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| Accused OxyContin Thief Sentenced to Prison |
A Galesburg man accused of taking all the OxyContin pills a local drug store had will spend time in prison on the case.
Knox County Circuit Court Judge James Stewart Wednesday sentenced 56-year old Steven Jones to five years in the Illinois Department of Corrections as a result of his plea almost two months ago to a Class-Two felony charge of Robbery.
Prosecutors agreed to drop a misdemeanor Criminal Trespass to Land charge, and a Class-X felony charge of Armed Robbery in exchange for the plea.
Jones was arrested in May of last year after he allegedly walked into the Henderson Street Walgreens store and demanded the pharmacist on duty give him all of the prescription painkiller the store had.
Police claim he brandished a knife when doing so, and that Jones jumped the counter when she walked away from him. Jones, Wednesday, however, claimed he never had a knife, and that the police told him he did.
That pharmacist told the court as part of a victim impact statement her ability to do her job has been, quote, "seriously affected" by the incident, and claims she is in fear now of working at the store alone, and has suffered other medical problems since the incident.
Jones apologized to Walgreens, the victim, the city of Galesburg, and the State, and claims he will do what he can to make restitution.
He did claim at the time of the theft he was "very sick" and had a dependency on OxyContin that later turned to addiction. He said since entering a 30-day drug treatment program and later jail, he's turned his life around.
Jones must serve under law, though, 50-percent of his sentence before he can be released, and with credit for time served in jail, he could only be imprisoned roughly a year.
(Steven Jones. WGIL News File Photo.) |
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| 10 14 09 by Newsroom |
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