Homeless Pennsylvania Man Faces 7 Years In Prison Over 43 Cent Soda Theft

Robert59

Robert59

Well-known Member
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Now I live in Tennesee. Did live in Michigan.
A homeless man faces up to seven years in prison after failing to pay 43 cents for a bottle of Mountain Dew in Pennsylvania last month.

PennLive reports Joseph Sobolewski, 38, went into a convenience store in Perry County in August to buy a bottle of soda. The advertised price of the Mountain Dew was two for $3. Sobolewski paid $2 for one bottle and walked out. The price for a single bottle, however, was $2.29 plus tax, meaning he was 43 cents short.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/homeless...2lyJoL6PQAj_4zrMajvMSla6o_B7lDzgy-UXArq9ISuVY
 

A Result.

For this homeless man, going to jail my be a good result.
He'll have a bed to sleep in, food, and have access to doctors, on the street he wouldn't.
When the powers that be weigh up how much it will cost the system to incarcerate him, somehow, magically, all charges against the man might well be dropped and he'll be back on the streets again.
 
Warrigal said:
Three strike laws do not deliver justice.
Click to expand...
Not in this case, not if it is applied. I do think there is some logic to the three strikes thing, but only for serious crimes. I believe that for most infractions, particularly first offenses, our sentencing is too stringent. Long prison sentences makes rehabilitation harder. On the other hand there are some people who are just unsafe to have on the streets, a proper 3 strikes law could keep them off.

This is just too minor to send someone to prison for, even if a repeated offender. Hopefully it won't happen.
 
If he did go to prison for 7 years for this, think of the money that would cost and how that money could help with affordable housing. We have problems in the U.S.. And things like this is one of them.

I'm not for lawlessness. This can't work either.
 
The U.S. has the highest prison population in the world. It costs the nation untold Billions of dollars/years to warehouse these people. Those who commit violent crimes should certainly be locked up for decades/life, but I wonder if there might be better ways to handle those who commit minor offences, or those whose lives are screwed up because of drug addiction, etc.
 
Some time ago I read that the USA has more people in prison per capital than any other country in the world. That includes China and Russia. Of course, you might know that often prisoners in China are shot in the back of the head ASAP. The Chinese tax payers don't want to waste their money.
 
This event came for discussion on another forum I was following. The discussion broke down to those who thought was ok to do whatever a person thought they could do without getting caught, like petty thefts, inconveniencing others, was OK. and those who thought that type of thing was wrong, whether anyone was watching or not. I came down on the side of “wrong is wrong”,and don’t plan to go back there.
That guy had been caught at other things before, and probably lots he was not caught at.
im not going to debate it. No sympathy.
 
Geezerette said:
This event came for discussion on another forum I was following. The discussion broke down to those who thought was ok to do whatever a person thought they could do without getting caught, like petty thefts, inconveniencing others, was OK. and those who thought that type of thing was wrong, whether anyone was watching or not. I came down on the side of “wrong is wrong”,and don’t plan to go back there.
That guy had been caught at other things before, and probably lots he was not caught at.
im not going to debate it. No sympathy.
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^^^ Exactly what most sympathizers don't realize.
 
Packerjohn said:
Some time ago I read that the USA has more people in prison per capital than any other country in the world. That includes China and Russia. Of course, you might know that often prisoners in China are shot in the back of the head ASAP. The Chinese tax payers don't want to waste their money.
Click to expand...
To rub salt into the wound, or perhaps as a warning, the family is sent an invoice for the price of the bullet.
 
Robert59 said:
A homeless man faces up to seven years in prison after failing to pay 43 cents for a bottle of Mountain Dew in Pennsylvania last month.

PennLive reports Joseph Sobolewski, 38, went into a convenience store in Perry County in August to buy a bottle of soda. The advertised price of the Mountain Dew was two for $3. Sobolewski paid $2 for one bottle and walked out. The price for a single bottle, however, was $2.29 plus tax, meaning he was 43 cents short.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/homeless...2lyJoL6PQAj_4zrMajvMSla6o_B7lDzgy-UXArq9ISuVY
Click to expand...
Now that they've changed the ingredients, Mountain Dew (one of my favourites) is not even worth 10¢ any longer.
 
Don M. said:
The U.S. has the highest prison population in the world. It costs the nation untold Billions of dollars/years to warehouse these people. Those who commit violent crimes should certainly be locked up for decades/life, but I wonder if there might be better ways to handle those who commit minor offences, or those whose lives are screwed up because of drug addiction, etc.
Click to expand...
I like your use of the word "warehouse". :)
 
Geezerette said:
This event came for discussion on another forum I was following. The discussion broke down to those who thought was ok to do whatever a person thought they could do without getting caught, like petty thefts, inconveniencing others, was OK. and those who thought that type of thing was wrong, whether anyone was watching or not. I came down on the side of “wrong is wrong”,and don’t plan to go back there.
That guy had been caught at other things before, and probably lots he was not caught at.
im not going to debate it. No sympathy.
Click to expand...
Hold your horses. Let us observe the 'facts' as presented in the OP.

The price was 2 for $3.00. Now an average person would calculate $1.50 each. Naturally, that is not how 2 for 1 works but there ought to be a reasonable sum for one, right? Mr. Sobolewski didn't offer $1.50 for the single beverage he purchased but a whole $2.00! In my estimation, that's a "keep the change" scenario.

I do not believe Mr. Sobolewski threw a 2-dollar bill on the counter and walked out without a word. No, certainly not. As @Alligatorob said, "...there is often much more to these stories than we get from the media... " and here is my take on the probable exchange of words between Mr. Sobolewski and the clerk:

* Mr. Sobolewski: "$2.00 should be more than enough for one, right?"
* Clerk: "Nope. You gotta' pay $2.72."
* Mr. Sobolewski: "You gotta' be joking! That doesn't make any sense!"
* Clerk (being young, inexperienced, and seeing that Mr. Sobolewski is homeless): "Either pay $2.72 or I'm calling the cops!"
* Mr. Sobolewski (having seen the film "Falling Down"): "You go ahead and call the cops. I'm giving you more than it's worth. Here's $2.00. Goodbye!

So ..... Geezerette, don't you think that Mr. Sobolewski deserves some sympathy?
 
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