Yesterday, April 8, I attended the sentencing of our church burglar, Archie Ross, along with Michelle Isaacs and Connie Hayes from the Community Caring Conference. Judge Walter Braud was presiding.
It turns out that counting this conviction, Mr. Ross has been convicted of thirteen felonies over the years. He has convictions in Minnesota and Iowa as well as Illinois. In exchange for not prosecuting additional cases against him the prosecution put a detective on the witness stand who testified about three additional burglary cases that were pending. DNA evidence connects Mr. Ross with a break-in at a hairdresser in the community. DNA evidence connects Mr. Ross with a previous burglary at the Church of Peace. Chain-of-evidence connects Mr. Ross with yet another burglary at the Church of Peace - one of our stolen computers was purchased by a pawn shop out on Eleventh Street, the serial number showed that it was ours, interviews with the seller connected it to Mr. Ross.
Mr. Ross offered his apologies to the church and commented that he wanted to take responsibility for his actions. He spoke of his addiction to alcohol and crack cocaine.
Judge Braud sentenced Mr. Ross to twenty years in light of his consistent pattern of behavior. While this sentence is certainly just it is sad to see a man of 64 years of age have such a life, and so sad a prospect for the future.
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