WAILUKU - After she didn't show up for her original sentencing date more than four years ago, a woman was placed on probation Wednesday for stealing from her former employer.
Jaime Meddings, 27, of Kihei was ordered to perform 100 hours of community service and pay $3,097 in restitution as part of five years' probation.
Meddings had pleaded no contest to second-degree theft of deposit money from Supercuts between July and September 2004, according to court records.
"I know what I did was wrong," she said in court.
She said she didn't show up to be sentenced in June 2005 because she had to move after being unable to pay rent. With nowhere to go, she said she went to Chicago.
"I did come back a few years ago," Meddings said. She said she didn't turn herself in earlier "because I was scared."
Meddings said she was working to support her two children. "I don't care if you give 10 years' probation, if I can just not have jail time," she told 2nd Circuit Judge Joel August.
Deputy Prosecutor Andrew Martin said Meddings should serve at least 90 days in jail.
He opposed her request for a chance to keep the conviction off her record, noting that she had committed another crime when she didn't appear in court to be sentenced in 2005.
"She had a fantastic opportunity in this case, not only to keep this conviction off her record, but make things right with her employer, get her life back on track," Martin said. "It doesn't sound like any of that has happened."
Deputy Public Defender William "Pili" McGrath said Meddings "was doing what working class people can do to survive."
August suspended a 90-day jail term for Meddings as long as she complies with other court requirements.
He denied her request for a chance to keep the conviction off her record, citing factors including a pending warrant for her arrest in Illinois for passing bad checks.
Meddings said she didn't know about the warrant, but it would have been for one check for baseball tickets.
August ordered Meddings not to consume alcohol or illegal drugs and to obtain the equivalent of a high school diploma within two years.
In other cases:
* A Lanai man who completed drug treatment after being arrested for assaulting his wife was placed on one year's probation.
In imposing the sentence Tuesday, 2nd Circuit Judge Joseph Cardoza said he wasn't ordering a jail term because didn't want to send Lester Resurreccion into an environment where he might be exposed to drugs.
"I'm going to give you the opportunity to continue to prove yourself to the court, but more importantly to your family, to your community," Cardoza told Resurreccion. "You've come close to losing everyone in your life. Fortunately, that hasn't happened for you.
"The best way to show you've learned something from this is to never go down this road again."
Resurreccion had pleaded no contest to a reduced charge of third-degree assault of his wife on Oct. 21, 2008, at their home in Lanai City.
According to police reports, he was on a crystal methamphetamine binge when he arrived at the home, where she was with their baby. He knocked her to the ground, causing a nasal fracture, before she took the baby and left, according to police.
"This appears to have come about because Lester started using drugs," said defense attorney Thomas Kolbe. "After this happened, he immediately got himself into treatment.
"He's been sober for over a year. He clearly understands if he ever touches drugs again, his life is going to go right back down the toilet."
Resurreccion and his wife are back together, Kolbe
said, and he is trying to find a job.
"I'm sorry for this incident, sorry to my family, my wife, my kids," Resurreccion said in court. "I hurt a lot of people, burned a lot of bridges. I'm an addict."
* A Kahului woman was ordered to pay $300 in restitution and perform 100 hours of community service as part of one year's probation in a theft case.
Rhonda Hoopii, 44, had pleaded no contest to a re-duced charge of third-degree forgery as well as third-degree theft.
According to court records, her stepmother's signature was forged on a money order for $300 that was taken from the stepmother's Wailuku Post Office box.
"The intent wasn't to take the money and use it for myself, but the fact is the check was cashed by me," Hoopii said in court Thursday. "I'm not denying that."
While acknowledging her long criminal history related to her addiction, Hoopii said she had been in recovery for years, working to raise her children and continue her education.
"I made a mistake like a lot of human beings," she said.
"The person standing before you is different from the person who had that long criminal record 14-plus years ago," said defense attorney Joel Edelman.
Cardoza imposed the sentence Thursday.
* A 32-year-old Kihei woman was ordered to perform 200 hours of community service and pay a $4,908 fine in a shoplifting case.
Angela Egley was given a chance to keep a second-degree theft conviction off her record if she follows court requirements for the next five years.
She had pleaded no contest to the charge brought after she was arrested July 4.
According to court records, a Sears loss-prevention officer approached Egley after she left the store without paying for jewelry.
She was found with 34 pieces of jewelry, including nine pieces stolen from Sears, police reported.
She told police she had taken the other jewelry from swap meet vendors.
Cardoza imposed the sentence Tuesday.
