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Florida Man Charged With Felony for Allegedly Stealing $1 Cup of Soda From McDonald's

Wake

Wake

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I think this is an outrage.

A Florida man was arrested and held on $6,500 bond after police in Collier County said he left a McDonald's without paying for a cup of soda valued at $1.
Mark Abaire, 52, had apparently asked staff at the Naples restaurant for a courtesy cup of water, but instead he allegedly filled the cup with soda from the soda fountain and sat outside of the restaurant, according to a story in the Naples Daily News which cited the police report of the Thursday incident.
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Florida Man Charged With Felony for Allegedly Stealing $1 Cup of Soda From McDonald's | ABC News Blogs - Yahoo! News

Seriously, a felony over one dollar's worth of soda? Where's the justice in this? How can some people spend less than a year in jail for killing people, and then this guy is charged with a felony for $1's worth of soda. This is absolutely ridiculous, and an embarrassment to our legal system.
 
Re: Florida Man Charged With Felony for Allegedly Stealing $1 Cup of Soda From McDona

Whew- at least this won't become a race-baiting thread, since the dude's a white guy. ;)

From the CBS website article:
The charge is petty theft, but it was increased to a felony because Abaire has previous petty theft convictions. In Florida, a third-degree felony can result in a sentence of up to five years and a $5,000 fine.

The newspaper reports Abaire faces additional misdemeanor counts of trespassing and disorderly intoxication.
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Re: Florida Man Charged With Felony for Allegedly Stealing $1 Cup of Soda From McDona

That is funny as hell. The petty theft crime that pushed him over the top, a McDonalds cup.
 
Re: Florida Man Charged With Felony for Allegedly Stealing $1 Cup of Soda From McDona

oh look, another thread that fails to provide all of the IMPORTANT details.

He was charged with petty theft, trespassing and disorderly intoxication after the Thursday arrest, and sent to Collier County jail. Petty theft is usually a misdemeanor, but because Abaire has previous convictions for theft, the charge was upgraded to a felony. The trespassing and disorderly intoxication charges are misdemeanors.
 
Re: Florida Man Charged With Felony for Allegedly Stealing $1 Cup of Soda From McDona

the charges were clearly justified. this guy is a repeat offender, and needs to learn his lesson.
 
Re: Florida Man Charged With Felony for Allegedly Stealing $1 Cup of Soda From McDona

Thunder said:
oh look, another thread that fails to provide all of the IMPORTANT details.

He was charged with petty theft, trespassing and disorderly intoxication after the Thursday arrest, and sent to Collier County jail. Petty theft is usually a misdemeanor, but because Abaire has previous convictions for theft, the charge was upgraded to a felony. The trespassing and disorderly intoxication charges are misdemeanors.
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Ummmm- I already posted that.
 
Re: Florida Man Charged With Felony for Allegedly Stealing $1 Cup of Soda From McDona

soccerboy22 said:
That is funny as hell. The petty theft crime that pushed him over the top, a McDonalds cup.
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Yeah, lol. The title of the article is written sensationally, but the man is not being charged $6,500 for a stolen cup of joe but because this was- most likely made serious by his defiance to obey police after the fact also- coupled with his past forms a pattern of misconduct that makes further misdemeanors into felonies. It's just the bail. Hopefully he doesn't walk away with no one's soap without asking in there...
 
Re: Florida Man Charged With Felony for Allegedly Stealing $1 Cup of Soda From McDona

Disorderly intoxication. Apparently those cops never lived where I did in college.
 
Re: Florida Man Charged With Felony for Allegedly Stealing $1 Cup of Soda From McDona

lizzie said:
Whew- at least this won't become a race-baiting thread, since the dude's a white guy. ;)

From the CBS website article:
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I see. It's because of one of those Draconian 3rd-strike laws.

Still...

...5 years in jail for only a dollar's worth of soda? :shock:
 
Re: Florida Man Charged With Felony for Allegedly Stealing $1 Cup of Soda From McDona

Wake said:
I see. It's because of one of those Draconian 3rd-strike laws.

Still...

...5 years in jail for only a dollar's worth of soda? :shock:
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you didn't read the very article that you posted.

it has NOTHING to do with any 3-strikes laws.

he has three charges against him, and they decided to up the theft to a felony, as he is a repeat offender. clearly, getting chaged with misdemeanors has NOT taught him a lesson.

these charges are appropriate.
 
Re: Florida Man Charged With Felony for Allegedly Stealing $1 Cup of Soda From McDona

Wake said:
I see. It's because of one of those Draconian 3rd-strike laws.

Still...

...5 years in jail for only a dollar's worth of soda? :shock:
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5 years may seem like a lot but this guy is a repeat offender for theft. His actions cause the rest of us to pay higher prices for everything they steal. Chances are everytime he had been charged in the past was as simple as a slap on the wrist. Looks like this time they are getting serious and making an example out of him. Seems to me he deserves what he is getting.
 
Re: Florida Man Charged With Felony for Allegedly Stealing $1 Cup of Soda From McDona

Almost everything in Florida is a felony. a 19 year old here got 6 years in the pen for stealing beer out of the refrigerator in someone's garage.

Florida: "God's waiting room."
 
Re: Florida Man Charged With Felony for Allegedly Stealing $1 Cup of Soda From McDona

Wake said:
I see. It's because of one of those Draconian 3rd-strike laws.

Still...

...5 years in jail for only a dollar's worth of soda? :shock:
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No Wake- not for a dollar's worth of soda, but for a cumulative amount of wrong-doing. To me, it's still over the top, but the original story doesn't include some very pertinent details.
 
Re: Florida Man Charged With Felony for Allegedly Stealing $1 Cup of Soda From McDona

joko104 said:
Almost everything in Florida is a felony. a 19 year old here got 6 years in the pen for stealing beer out of the refrigerator in someone's garage.

Florida: "God's waiting room."
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But wouldn't the charges be Burglary or breaking and entering? It sounds harmless when you say it like he just stole beer.
 
Re: Florida Man Charged With Felony for Allegedly Stealing $1 Cup of Soda From McDona

Dirt Racer said:
But wouldn't the charges be Burglary or breaking and entering? It sounds harmless when you say it like he just stole beer.
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And underage drinking.
 
Re: Florida Man Charged With Felony for Allegedly Stealing $1 Cup of Soda From McDona

Wake said:
I think this is an outrage.



Florida Man Charged With Felony for Allegedly Stealing $1 Cup of Soda From McDonald's | ABC News Blogs - Yahoo! News

Seriously, a felony over one dollar's worth of soda? Where's the justice in this? How can some people spend less than a year in jail for killing people, and then this guy is charged with a felony for $1's worth of soda. This is absolutely ridiculous, and an embarrassment to our legal system.
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Whoever called the police on the guy should be the one kicked in the arse... realize that once the police are called they have no choice but to react...
 
Re: Florida Man Charged With Felony for Allegedly Stealing $1 Cup of Soda From McDona

lpast said:
Whoever called the police on the guy should be the one kicked in the arse... realize that once the police are called they have no choice but to react...
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How did the neighbor know that he was only stealing beer? I don't know about you but I think I would rather they erred on the side of me than the irresponsible acts of a 19 year old. How do you end up with the criminal being the victim?
 
Re: Florida Man Charged With Felony for Allegedly Stealing $1 Cup of Soda From McDona

Thunder said:
you didn't read the very article that you posted.

it has NOTHING to do with any 3-strikes laws.

he has three charges against him, and they decided to up the theft to a felony, as he is a repeat offender. clearly, getting chaged with misdemeanors has NOT taught him a lesson.

these charges are appropriate.
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Wrong.......
 
Re: Florida Man Charged With Felony for Allegedly Stealing $1 Cup of Soda From McDona

Neh - I agree with that he needed a heavier response from the law: but a felony? No - on that: I think it was too much - he could have received a stronger sentence without being tagged as a felon. Being a felon = losing some rights. I don't think that anything he's done would necessitate the severity of a felony. . . that's for murderers, serial rapists = extreme injustices against people, family and civility.

Unless he did all that - and served a considerable amount of time in the past (possible - but we don't know)
 
Re: Florida Man Charged With Felony for Allegedly Stealing $1 Cup of Soda From McDona

Aunt Spiker said:
Neh - I agree with that he needed a heavier response from the law: but a felony? No - on that: I think it was too much - he could have received a stronger sentence without being tagged as a felon. Being a felon = losing some rights. I don't think that anything he's done would necessitate the severity of a felony. . . that's for murderers, serial rapists = extreme injustices against people, family and civility.

Unless he did all that - and served a considerable amount of time in the past (possible - but we don't know)
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I agree. 50 hours community service would have been slightly heavy handed. Felony is horribly blind justice.

Crap like this just screams to the general public "HEY THE JUSTICE SYSTEM IS A PILE OF CROCK ****"

"Is there justice in the system? "Just us" in the system. Attorneys are spiders and we are flies. " ~ Corporate Avenger (a musical band)
 
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Re: Florida Man Charged With Felony for Allegedly Stealing $1 Cup of Soda From McDona

Dirt Racer said:
How did the neighbor know that he was only stealing beer? I don't know about you but I think I would rather they erred on the side of me than the irresponsible acts of a 19 year old. How do you end up with the criminal being the victim?
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I thought we were talking about a guy who asked for water at McDs and filled it with soda instead
 
Re: Florida Man Charged With Felony for Allegedly Stealing $1 Cup of Soda From McDona

Thunder said:
the charges were clearly justified. this guy is a repeat offender, and needs to learn his lesson.
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I agree the charges are justified. The guy is a repeat offender.

Having said that i can see where Wake is coming from. I've just been browsing the Drunk Driving thread where a repeat offender got a 90 day sentence for killing someone. Apparently a cup of soda is more valuable than a life :shrug:.
 
Re: Florida Man Charged With Felony for Allegedly Stealing $1 Cup of Soda From McDona

Check this out, if the serial thief had just paid the buck, or didn't have the criminal history he did, he wouldn't be looking at felony charges. How about, instead of blaming the law, we actually fault the guy who was stupid enough to earn himself a felony charge for taking something so silly.
 
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