Oregon man faces charge of 3rd theft in 5 months
2/9/2007If life were a game of baseball, Oregon resident Adam Fizer might be called out on strikes.
Mr. Fizer, 24, of 3706 Corduroy Rd. was arrested this week by Oregon police on a charge of petty theft for stealing a television from the Kroger grocery store at 3301 Navarre Ave. It was the third time in five months Mr. Fizer has been arrested on charges of trying to take something that wasn't his.
Rossford police charged Mr. Fizer with attempted theft for taking $10 from a clerk at the True North Shell Station Sept. 2 in exchange for a stack of metal washers sandwiched between two quarters.
When he appeared on the charge Jan. 5 in Perrysburg Municipal Court, he was granted leniency and received a 30-day suspended jail sentence provided he remain on good behavior.
But while waiting for his paperwork to be processed, Perrysburg police said, a courthouse camera captured Mr. Fizer taking informational signs off the courthouse hallway.
Mr. Fizer returned to the courthouse to return the signs after a story about the incident appeared in The Blade, and was taken into custody and charged with theft. He was released on a bond posted by his grandmother.
Early Monday morning, Mr. Fizer got into trouble with the law again. According to an Oregon police report, Mr. Fizer was a passenger in a vehicle pulled over around 3 a.m. because a headlight was not working and there was no visible license plate.
The car belonged to a female friend of Mr. Fizer's who was driving at the time and was not charged.
Officer Jacob Stelmaszak reported that he noticed a television sticking out of the trunk of the car and asked Mr. Fizer about it when he approached the vehicle.
Mr. Fizer told the officer his parents bought him the television, a 27-inch Sylvania digital model priced at $199.99, as a late Christmas present, the police report states.
When Officer Jeffrey Martin arrived on the scene moments later as back-up, he spotted a Kroger's sticker on the TV box and informed Officer Stelmaszak. The latter asked Mr. Fizer if he could contact Mr. Fizer's father to verify the TV's purchase as a gift. Mr. Fizer said yes, and gave the officer the phone number, the police report states.
When reached by phone, the elder Fizer told Officer Stelmaszak that he never bought a TV for his son.
Meanwhile, Officer Martin had contacted the Kroger store and confirmed that a TV was missing from the store.
According to the report, Mr. Fizer was then asked to step out of the car and was informed his father's story did not match his own. He quietly asked the officer if he was going to receive a court summons.
Mr. Fizer, who received a summons for each of the previous two incidents, was indeed issued a summons to appear in front of Oregon Municipal Court Judge Jeffery B. Keller for arraignment the next day on the petty theft charge.
Mr. Fizer appeared in court Tuesday, but the matter was continued until Feb. 20 so the accused could find an attorney.
His court-appointed attorney in the Perrysburg theft case, Larry Gold, said yesterday he was unaware of his client's latest offense. He said he had no plans to become involved in that matter unless Mr. Fizer requested his services.
Doug Spencer, Perrysburg Municipal Court bailiff, said Mr. Fizer is scheduled to enter a plea on Feb. 23 for the theft of the courthouse signs. If convicted of that offense, Mr. Spencer said Mr. Fizer would be found in violation of his original probation for the coin theft and likely face jail time.
Contact Joe Vardon at:
jvardon@theblade.com
or 419-410-5055.