A man who mistakenly underpaid 43 cents for a bottle of soft drink at a gas station is being held on a $50,000 bond and faces up to seven years in prison.
Outside of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, Joseph Sobolewski came across a sign selling two 20-ounce Mountain Dew bottles for $3 at a pump station convenience store.
Sobolewski walked out after picking up a bottle and depositing $2 on the counter. He had no idea that the store charged $2.29 for a single bottle, and that after-tax, he had underpaid the store by 43 cents.
The clerk called the police, who arrested Sobolewski, who is now being held in jail on a $50,000 cash bond and faces three to seven years in prison.
Judge Jacqueline Leister told PennLive that she couldn’t recall why she set Sobolewski’s bond at the astronomical $50,000, citing that she has too many cases to manage. She did, however, inform PennLive that it was most likely due to previous violations and an existing warrant.
According to court records, Sobolewski was detained more than ten years ago after driving away without paying for petrol. He was arrested in 2011 for stealing a pair of sneakers worth less than $40.
Sobolewski also owes $1,500 in child support and was arrested a few months ago for stealing art supplies from a hobby business, but has yet to go to trial.
Under Pennsylvania’s three-strikes law, no matter how small the third theft is, the charge is an automatic felony and carries a 3- to 7-year sentence.
Because he cannot afford to pay the cash bond, Sobolewski stays in jail while awaiting trial.
Here are some people who have expressed their outrage at his treatment, the brutal US criminal justice system, and the abuse of homeless people on social media:
“Incredibly dumb. That’s all the U.S. does is jail people for ludicrous small-time crimes. Send them to prison for being a drug addict, send them to prison for petty thefts, because incarceration always works…dumb”
“This is plain stupid. And if prosecutors take him to court, they are rotten, as would be any judge or jury that would convict him.”
“Where is Charles Dickens’ common decency when you need it? Does the store have a penny collector tray? Does the clerk hold a grudge? Are the police there that obtuse? Is a Judge going to say it’s frivolous, here’s 43 cents? Shame! He’s already homeless, why not lend a hand?”
“It’s seriously time to defund whatever police department that was if they have so much resources and spare time that they follow up on calls like this and track people down and arrest them over an honest mistake that didn’t harm anyone at all in any way. You’re arresting ppl over 40 cents? You are a giant waste of public funds.”
Pennsylvania’s prison and jail population averaged about 82,000 people in 2019. Probation or parole affects about 300,000 people. Pennsylvania has the 25th highest percentage of its population in prison.
A total of 2,850,000 people are incarcerated in the United States, with another 4.5 million on probation or parole. This amount is higher than any other country in the world in terms of both number and proportion.
The United States is also the only country in the world that imprisons juveniles for life without the possibility of parole. There are nearly 2,600 juvenile life without parole (JLWOP) cases across the US, with 414 in Pennsylvania prisons.
While poor laws have been ruled unconstitutional, on any given day one-quarter of those in jail are there because they cannot pay bail or have outstanding jail fees.
A defendant usually faces a judge within 48 hours of being arrested, and the judge can either release the person, detain them in prison, or set bail, if the person can pay the bail, they are released until their trial, and the bail money is returned if they show up for the trial, whether they are convicted or not.
Most offenders, however, are unable to afford bail, leaving them at the mercy of the for-profit bail bonds industry. A bail bond company will take a deposit and post the bond. The average bond fee is 10%, however, it can be much more.
That would be $5,000 in Sobolewski’s instance. When a defendant fails to appear for trial, the business does not refund the cost, and bondsmen are given extensive powers to pursue non-appearing defendants, including the use of bounty hunters.
The arrest of Sobolewski also underscores the depth of the social crisis in general and the lack of social services for the homeless in particular.
Moreover, a quarter of Harrisburg’s population lives in poverty, and the median household income is less than two-thirds that of the state.
Since the 2008 financial meltdown and during the epidemic, trillions have been diverted to banks, financial institutions, and the wealthy, while social programs for the destitute and homeless have been curtailed.
Watch it here: Youtube/Mi Opinion Vlog
Sources: Taphaps, Insideedition, Dailymail