Smithfield man sentenced for theft

By Brock Anderson

Novmber 10, 2005 | LOGAN -- Clark James, 43, of Smithfield was sentenced Tuesday in 1st District Court to 14 days in the Cache County Jail, and required to pay $3,761.54 in restitution for a Class A misdemeanor theft charge.

"Mr. James has led a law-abiding life," James' attorney, Shannon Demler, said to Judge Thomas Willmore. He told Willmore that James has no prior criminal record, except for a minor poaching incident in 1988. Demler asked the judge to limit jail time to weekends so James could continue working at his job during the week. The prosecution also supported weekend-only jail time for James.

Willmore sentenced James to seven weekends of jail time. He is to check in at the Cache County Jail every Friday at 7 p.m. for seven consecutive weeks beginning Nov. 18, excluding Christmas weekend.

According to the charging document, sometime during February or March of 2005 James obtained or used unauthorized property which was valued between $1,000 and $5,000. James was initially charged on March 30 with third-degree felony theft, to which he pleaded not guilty. The charge was later reduced to a class A misdemeanor, to which James pleaded guilty Aug. 30.

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