Retail theft charges mount
A Lyndora man awaiting trial on his 11th shoplifting charge was arrested Sunday for a 12th time.
This time, Butler police said, Ronald Lee Doctor, 50, tried to steal a container of Coffeemate from the Friedman’s supermarket on West Brady Street.
Store manager James Keane stepped in about 2:50 p.m. to stop Doctor from running off with the $3.50 item, according to court documents. Doctor shoved Keane but his getaway try failed. He was arraigned on two felonies, robbery and retail theft.
Police noted that because Doctor used force after the theft, he turned the retail theft into a robbery.
Although retail theft is normally a summary or misdemeanor offense, under state law it is upgraded to a third-degree felony regardless of the stolen property’s value when a defendant has at least two prior arrests for the same crime.
Butler County Court records showed Doctor, before Sunday, had 11 previous arrests for retail theft dating back to 1991.
His habitual shoplifting in 2000 and 2002 earned him separate stints in prison.
But after being convicted in a 2007 case, he was sentenced to 18 to 36 months.
Then last year city police arrested him again. In that case on Oct. 12, he was caught allegedly opening food items that he fed to his infant child while at the Kmart store in the Pullman Plaza shopping center.
Police said store employees also watched Doctor hide other items in the baby’s stroller and try to leave without paying for them.
The 2012 case is pending trial, according to records.
Doctor faces a preliminary hearing Oct. 21 on charges in Sunday’s arrest. He is free on $1,000 bail.
