Little Italy thief sentenced to 2 years of probation
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By LeAnn R. Ralph
COLFAX — A 30-year-old Colfax man who pleaded “no contest” and was found guilty on two counts of misdemeanor theft in connection with taking milk, soda pop and money from A Little Slice of Italy has been sentenced to probation.
Anthony P. Grasso appeared on September 25 in Dunn County Circuit Court with his attorney Jonathan Lundeen for a plea and sentencing hearing before Judge James Peterson.
Grasso pleaded no contest to two counts of misdemeanor theft, and Judge Peterson accepted the plea, found Grasso guilty, withheld sentence and placed Grasso on two years of probation and ordered him to have no contact with A Little Slice of Italy on Main Street in Colfax.
Judge Peterson also ordered Grasso to pay $253 in court costs, a $250 DNA surcharge, a $10 drug surcharge and $800 in restitution.
If Grasso wants to write a letter of apology, he should go through the probation office, and Grasso can also request after one year an early discharge from probation, the judge said.
Bail was set with a $200 cash bond on August 31, but the bail was later amended on September 2 to a $1,000 signature bond.
According to a report from the Colfax Police Department dated August 3, Anne Jenson, owner of A Little Slice of Italy, contacted the police department to say the back door of the restaurant had been unlocked when she arrived and that the cash register was empty and had contained about $60. Jenson also noticed the tip jar was missing and estimated it had contained about $100.
The Little Italy employee who had closed the night before told the police officer she had left about 10 p.m. and locked the door, but then she had returned to retrieve something and was not certain if she had locked the door when she left the second time.
Jenson said the only person she could think of who would steal from the restaurant was one of two men who had applied for a job but was not hired.
Although Jenson has security cameras in the building, she told the police officer the security system generally is not activated.
Again
According to a report from the Dunn County Sheriff’s Department, Jenson contacted the sheriff’s department at around 7 a.m. August 30 to report a burglary at her business, A Little Slice of Italy, and that she had video footage of someone inside of her business.
Jenson told deputies she has an application program on her cell phone that showed activity inside of her business, and approximately three weeks earlier, someone had entered her business and had taken a gallon of milk and a change jar.
Jenson said the video showed someone entering the building through the southwest entrance and that the door had been locked but could be forced open.
According to the sheriff’s department report, the video showed a white male entering the business, crouching behind the counter and taking some change out of the cash register. It also appeared the man had taken several cans of soda pop out of a small cooler near the cash register, removed a gallon of milk from the refrigerator and left the same way he had come in.
When asked if she knew who the man might have been, Jenson said an Anthony Grasso had come in previously to drop off a job application and had made several statements that led Jenson to believe he was being untruthful. Jenson also thought he might be involved because he lived a block and a half away and also had been observed cashing in change at the local bank shortly after the last break in, according to the report.
With a friend
When deputies asked Grasso where he had been that morning, he said he was walking near the park with a friend, although he did not know the friend’s last name, according to the sheriff’s department report.
The report notes Grasso was roughly the same build as the person observed on the camera system at Little Italy.
When deputies asked if they could enter his apartment to look for items that had been stolen, he agreed.
When deputies said that what Grasso had told them he was wearing earlier that day had matched what someone who had broken into a local business was wearing and then asked why Grasso had broken into the business, Grasso took a deep breath and said, “he broke into the pizza joint over there. He said he did this because he had no money and no food. He then said the only reason he did it was to get something to drink,” according to the report.
In response to a question about what he had taken, Grasso said he had taken a gallon of milk, two Mountain Dews and four dollars in quarters.
Later on, Grasso told deputies he had broken into the business about three weeks earlier, according to the sheriff’s department report, and admitted he had taken a gallon of milk and a large pitcher that contained approximately $55 in change.