A man’s 30th conviction for theft was marked with 90 days in jail Monday.
Clifford Stamp pleaded guilty to a single count of theft, as well as one of assault, and was given the jail term, while warned that his time in custody would only mount in future if he did not turn his life around.
Stamp has a lengthy criminal record, which now includes 30 different theft charges, as well as a slew of other offences.
Stamp’s arrest came as a result of an unusual investigative process. He went to the Safeway store on Hebert Road on Oct. 7, 2010 and caught the attention of store security when he began grabbing razors and electric toothbrushes and putting them into a basket.
He then went to a different part of the store and grabbed a gift bag, before ducking behind a display and putting the items in the bag. Then he briefly walked away from all of the items before returning and walking out of the store without paying.
He was confronted walking out of the store and then got into a fight with store security, punching the worker three times before getting away and running to a waiting vehicle.
In the skirmish he abandoned what he was taking and the store security officer also pulled off Stamp’s hooded sweatshirt. Inside the pocket of the sweatshirt was a BlackBerry and local police eventually were able to run it through an Edmonton Police database, where they discovered it was associated with Stamp.
They received a prior mug shot of Stamp, compared it to the store security footage and when Stamp was arrested on another matter he was charged with the theft.
The 90-day sentence was put forward as part of a plea arrangement, though Crown prosecutor Doug Taylor noted he had not made the arrangement personally and it was on the lighter side of what he would have proposed.
Stamp apologized to the court for his actions and said he was deeply disappointed in himself.
“I know what I did was wrong and I wish I could take it back.”
Stamp’s lawyer, Anita Myers, said he had offers to start an apprenticeship and would be able to get on a steadier path.
Stamp said he was ready to turn things around.
“I don’t want to be in jail no more after this.”
In reviewing Stamp’s criminal record Judge Larry Anderson found there were times, long periods where he had managed to stay out of trouble.
He asked Stamp to consider what he had been doing during those times and to try to return to whatever had caused the stability in his life.
Anderson warned Stamp that with his egregious record he would likely be held without bail if he committed another offence and the chance of him spending significant time in jail would only rise.
“Bigger and bigger chunks of your life are going to be taken away from you and you are going to spend them in jail.”
