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Cigarette thief gets 15 years in prison |
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Friday, 09 January 2009 |
New Saline County Cir-cuit Court Judge Bobby Mc-Callister on Wednesday sentenced a North Little Rock man to 15 years in the Arkansas Department of Correction after a failed robbery attempt to steal hundreds of cigarettes at a Bryant fuel station.
Curtis Bruce Riggs, 55, pleaded guilty to theft of property for the Oct. 22 incident.
Although the case may appear to be only about the theft of cigarettes, Prosecut-ing Attorney Ken Casady said it could have ended much worse.
“This could have very easily turned into a homicide case,” he said. “This shows how a simple theft can go terribly wrong very quickly.”
Bryant Police Chief Tony Coffman said Riggs and Gary LaWayne Connors, 49, also of North Little Rock, pulled up to the Murphy USA fuel station at the Bryant Walmart Supercen-ter on the morning of Oct. 22 and found large boxes of cigarettes sitting outside the building. The store had just received a delivery of $4,560 worth of cigarettes.
Riggs and Connors re-portedly got out of his truck and began putting the boxes in the bed of his truck when the store manager reportedly saw the two men and tried to stop them. In an attempt to retrieve the cigarettes, her arm was snagged by the vehicle and she was dragged across the parking lot.
“The manager apparently put her hand on the back of their truck to take the cigarettes back when the two jumped in the truck and took off,” Coffman said. “She was then drug by the vehicle a few feet before they stopped the vehicle and unhooked her hand and drove off again.”
The Murphy manager was treated and released from Saline Memorial Hospital in Benton with minor injuries.
Riggs and Connors almost made it to Little Rock, but were stopped by Bryant police at the intersection of Arkansas 5 and Otter Creek. Bryant police also recovered security cameras that showed the incident taking place.
After being held in the Saline County jail for two days, Riggs and Connors both appeared before Benton District Judge Mike Robinson. Riggs was given a $50,000 bond and Connors a $10,000 bond, but neither posted bail. Connors is expected to appear before McCallister at 9 a.m. Tuesday, May 19.
“Bryant patrol and Detective Nick Ramsey did a great job putting this case together,” Casady said. “Their work allowed us to keep Riggs locked up from the date of the crime and get a good sentence.”
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