Kalispell man sentenced in 2 cases
A Kalispell man convicted of theft for shoplifting more than $1,240 worth of merchandise from the Target store on U.S. 93 North and criminal endangerment for holding up a fast food restaurant with a fake gun earned a four year committment Thursday to the Montana Department of Corrections.
It's up to corrections officials to determine where Shane Patterson Roe, 24, will serve that time - in prison or in the community, through placement in a program such as a pre-release center.
Before he was sentenced, Roe pleaded guilty Thursday to the theft charges. He had entered a guilty plea to the criminal endangerment charge in May.
District Court Judge Stewart E. Stadler ordered Roe to the Department of Corrections for two years on each conviction, with the sentences to run consecutively.
From the stand, Roe admitted to stealing electronics and other items from Target between May 29 and June 5.
His girlfriend, 20-year-old Stephanie Faye Wild, is also charged in connection to the incidents. She pleaded not guilty to felony theft in June.
Store security guards said surveillance cameras recorded Roe and Wild on June 1, 2, 3, and 5 taking more than $1,240 worth of goods. Authorities suspect additional thefts were not captured on tape.
Roe and Wild would open packages, conceal the merchandise inside Roe's clothes or in Wild's purse, and then replace the empty packages back on the shelves.
The stolen items were then pawned or sold elsewhere, prosecutors allege.
Roe was also sentenced Thursday for flashing a replica gun and demanding money from an employee of a Kalispell restaurant.
According to court documents, Roe walked into Taco John's near Main and Idaho streets about 2:30 p.m. on March 31, flashed what appeared to be a 9mm Glock pistol tucked in his waistband, and demanded free food from an employee.
Roe, who originally was charged with assault with a weapon, has said he was joking.
Reporter Nicholas Ledden can be reached at 758-4441 or by e-mail at nledden@dailyinterlake.com