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Brevard County Sheriff's Office
Robin Hall was arrested because she shoplifted cigarettes from a Wal-Mart back in 1991.
For one Connecticut woman in Florida, the saying "better late than never" doesn't apply.
Robin Hall was arrested because of a bill she didn't pay 22 years ago and to make matters worse, she's also been stuck in jail for the last four days.
"I just want it to be all over so I can go home," Hall said from her Brevard County Jail, Florida. She shoplifted cigarettes from a Wal-Mart back in 1991.
For that Hall owes the state $85.
The 22-year-old crime followed the Connecticut native to Port Canaveral, Florida Thursday where she, her husband and two kids were wrapping up a vacation.
The family had been aboard the Disney Dream cruise ship and Brevard County police officers were waiting for her as she left the boat.
"I was pulled to the side and told that I had a warrant," Hall added.
Police said Hall failed to pay the $85 in court costs when she was 18 and when they checked the ship's passenger list for terrorists, they found a warrant for Hall.
Since the incident she has put herself through college and now helps design jet engines for Pratt & Whitney.
Read more news on NBCConnecticut.com
"I take full responsibility for what I did but I do not believe I deserve this," Hall said.
The Brevard County Jail won't let her post bail because it's a charge from a different county and she has to be transferred there. Yet with the long holiday weekend that might not be until Thursday.
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A criminal got arrested on a warrant.
This is news how?
Boo Hoo. Don't steal, and pay your debts.
Yup. She encountered a reasonably forseeable risk of her chosen profession.
Vern, Nice shooting. Her chosen profession is aeronautical engineer. Just imagine, if we lived in a world that you want, all those foreigners wouldn't envy us for all the freedoms we enjoy.
Sounds like you hallucinate the freedom to steal other peoples stuff is one we need to be able to enjoy.
You'd be mistaken.
Has anyone stopped to think that the warrant directs all law enforcement agencies to make an arrest on the warrant?
Their are laws that don't make this an option for law enforcement. Regardless of the charge. If the officers who discovered the warrant failed to make the arrest on the warrant they would be violating the law and then would be subject to criminal proceedings for not upholding the law.
So until the laws are changed regarding arrest on warrants its still going to happen.
No wonder they have such a hard time solving murder cases.
They must have hoarding tendencies.
What happened to the statute of limitations on minor crimes ?
She skipped on paying a fine for stealing, and she gets to walk? No no no.
A number of comments here are of the mentality that you don't need to face the consequences of your behavior. If you want to, you can skip. And if you manage to go undetected for a long time, you're home free. You got away with it.
No, you didn't.
Others have. Many, many, many others. So it comes down to "What are the odds?", and her particular case, not very good. People in this country get away with nefarious behavior all day, every day, and when you look at high-profile cases like Enron, Bernie Madoff, et al, the odds for the shorter term look pretty attractive, and if you squirrel away enough of the proceeds in an offshore bank, when they do catch you, you can do the time laughing yourself to sleep every night, and standing on your head.
It's Florida. NOT Conn.
guess she needed a smoke pretty bad. but its not like she didn,t know about not paying the court,an then after time forgot an it caught up with her. if your going to steal an get caught,,,,,,, pay ur durn fines, to bad so sad.
Great police work. Another master criminal/potential terrorist brought to justice.
Amazing! Theres are hundreds, maybe thousands of people who are wanted for far more than this. I'd think that this is a publicity stunt for Florida...is some there running an election on 'do the time' ideals? They have more smugglers and drug dealers coming and going from their airports and docks than any other state, and they have the balls to arrest some woman for an 85 dollar fine thats 22 years old? The drug dealers on the cruise were probably laughing their buns off as she was taken away.It'll cost them hundreds maybe thousands to do the paperwork.
Seriously.....I'll bet all the Florida drug lords are laughing whilee having their drinks and cupcakes by the pool!! What a waste of time and money. Leave this woman alone!!
Yet the authorities can't find and deport 12 million illegal aliens.
OK, if people are correct, I learned that once a warrent is issued, the statue of limitions do NOT come into play. And yes, law enforcement have to honor all warrents issued if they find that person. Now the question is, how much is FL spending on keeping her until she can be extridated?
And how much is it going to cost Conn to transport her back there? And what will be her final fine? Makes a person wonder. And it really does show how screwed up our justice system is.
SallyAnn... I would like to lead you toward a different line of analysis. Law enforcement is paid on salary. Thus the jail is paid for in the annual budget whether it is full or empty. It doesn't matter if the prisoner housed stole cigarettes, drove while intoxicated, or was arrested for a fist fight. The police do not determine guilt, the court is where guilt is determined, with a judge finding if a warrant is to be issued or withdrawn. There is an annual budget drawn up to be approved for the costs of housing criminals, to include the cost of the cheese sandwich the person gets for lunch, etc. Florida being a tourism state, probably keeps statistics on how many non residents get arrested for petty crimes and are housed in its jails as a result, each year, and are debated as a budget item in their legislature, or municipal budget hearings. During budget talks, with declining tax revenues, one side will say, " To lower jailing costs, limit the apprehensions of petty crimes. " On the other side of the debate someone will say, " Petty crimes are up and we have to increase our budget to handle them. "
The lady's warrant for arrest is just another mechanism for someone, or group to get a salary, more so than a mechanism to stop juveniles from pilfering smokes. Pilfering cigarettes is an expected behavior, and in conjunction with the numerous other smoking laws on the books, a few people probably are making a pretty good living.
It's a small world after all because homeland security is ... thorough like:
thor row row row the boat.
but thor does not row like a commer, thor roar roar roar.
And that is how it is to be thorough.
BE AFRAID:
communist secret police (SS) are t-thorough.
Germany NAZI secret police (SS but nazi) are t-thorough.
USA homeland security (ex-secret sevice/veterans) are t-thorough.
Your friend maybe the FBI now? --er, um, look out for bad cop good cop routine to get info from you.
Ran out of Stelazine, I see. Better refill that scrip now.
do you need prescription to use verb like refill? Are you a pharmacist? Do your work contacts tell you they are available on the streets or not? Trading info is call bartering you know. IRS folks don't like bartering they can't track on paper. Make sure you express that to homeland security when they spy on you to make you spy for them the drug habits of your customers if you are a pharmacist. Nice huh?
the cops in florida must have had a slow day.what a waste of time and money...sure she was wrong but 22yrs later??? and conn. is not much better.....
I really doubt Conn. is going to foot the bill to extradite over 85 dollars. FL on the other hand will be footing the bill to incarcerate her till Conn. tells them to drop dead. GG FL GG
I paid off a college loan to NYSHE in 1992. Last year, I get a letter from a collection agency wanting the money. The university said they were trying to 'recoup' old loans - apparently even after they've already been paid. The credit and collection system is so crooked in the US, I would not be surprised this was an error. If this is really the way tax dollars are spent, they should be ashamed of themselves. What if this woman now loses her job? Sick society, sick sick society.
Could be worse.
She could have been busted in Texas, in which case we'd be reading about her execution.
This just illustrates that you should never judge a book by it's cover. Here you have a BEAUTIFUL young woman.....full of life and pep in her step. However, if you look just below the gorgeous outer layer, you will find a dirty, unhealthy, and miserable smoker. Disgusting. She's lucky she's got the looks to coast through life, but deep down she is GROSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
LOL.. This killed me too funny..
Stinkleton,
Gross? Maybe. But not half as gross as are those people with "holier than thou" attitudes. Smoking is a physical addiction, smugness and arrogance are spiritual ones with much worse consequences. I'd rather stand with smokers all day than spend an hour breathing in the noxious blather of some self righteous putz who is unable to see the 2x4 sticking out from his/her own eye. A$$holes are ubiquitous.
Oh yeah, I hope you aren't one of those "other smokers". You know, the ones who hop into their vehicles that pump out tons of REALLY poisonous fumes at every man, woman and baby. If you do drive a vehicle then you ought to cease and desist because you also are GROSS!!!! In fact, GROSSER!!!! than any tobacco smoker. Vehicle drivers calling tobacco smokers GROSS!!! is the height of hypocrisy!
Many of you are missing the point here. This isn't about a woman who shoplifted cigarettes 22 years ago and skipped out on the fine. It's about all the other people out there who are tempted to do the same thing - until they read this story. Frankly, I think it's her own fault. She should have paid the fine and been done with it.
Methinks thou doest protest too much, here.
Somehow I doubt this particular case was the intent of the crafters of the bind over aspect of the law.
I think you are missing the point; if she went through modern society for 22 years without being put in a position the Broward Pigs (blind justice, yo!) did for arrest, then she ought to get a Freedom Award.
Or at least allow her to whup out her Visa and move on her way. Florida cops are even lower in intelligence than the average cop. Broward Barney, sheesh...
I think we can all agree now that the so-called 'war on terror' is in fact the placement of a police state in action. This is now a war on those who sin. We have met the terrorists and they is us.
Breaking laws these days is like being a sinner; you can't take three steps without breaking some stupid rule because the rules are ridiculously crafted.
I think the not stealing rule is pretty straight forward. "Don't take stuff that isn't yours" was something I learned long before kindergarten.
Terrorist paranoia at work. Thank you Bin Laden.
Really ? I understand Connecticut issued a warrant for this woman 22 years ago but I will bet the f*cking ranch Connecticut will decline to have her returned IT COST WAY MORE THAN $85 BUCKS. To the Brevard County Police the publicity you sought by arresting this woman is backfiring you appear to be a bunch of yokels.
They are. Barney Fifes on steroids.
She broke the law by stealing and then failed to pay court costs - in most states, this can result in having your license revoked or your wages garnished, or ultimately, having a warrant issued for your arrest. Great, she put herself through school but she violated the law again when she didn't pay the court imposed costs. Stop blaming the state for this woman being a two time dirtbag.
Even though you made no mistakes when you were 18, this woman did. Yes there are laws, and rightly so, against shoplifting, but there are also statutes of limitations. Enough is enough, and this is beyond even enough.
Typical government bureaucrats. Our government will spend about $10,000 trying to collect this $85. Isn't their a statute of limitations on a simple case of shoplifting? This is beyond stupid.
This is the problem with our justice system they hunt this women down for a stolen pack of smokes after 22 years and let murderers out of jail because of overcrowding.
I do think it's a waste of resources to go after this woman in this manner. However, she should have paid the fine and I don't quite understand how she was able not to pay it at the time or shortly afterward. It does seem that there were other ways to get her to pay in all those years. However, I don't feel all that sorry for her. This should serve as a good lesson for her children: take your punishment when you do wrong.