Prosecutors: Probationer has girlfriend pawn..

Theft • Police found items were sold the next day at a pawn shop.

This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2012, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

What do you do when you want to avoid violating your federal probation and need some cash? Have your girlfriend pawn stolen goods for you.

At least that is what a 36-year-old Midvale man thought would work, according to prosecutors.

The man and his 26-year-old girlfriend were both charged in 3rd District Court on Thursday with theft by receiving stolen property, a class A misdemeanor. The woman was also charged with theft by deception, a class B misdemeanor.

The man's ex-girlfriend realized on April 8 her Salt Lake City house had been burglarized. A Nintendo Wii gaming system, controllers and five games, 10 DVDs and two Nintendo 3DSs with handheld games were stolen, according to court records.

The woman believed her ex-boyfriend and new girlfriend were responsible for stealing the items valued at less than $1,500, court documents state.

The next day police looked through a statewide pawn shop database and discovered all of the stolen property had been pawned at a South Salt Lake pawn shop.

After the ex-boyfriend was arrested, he admitted to a detective and his federal probation officer that he had asked his girlfriend to pawn the stolen goods because, "he did not want to mess up his federal parole," charging documents state.

cimaron@sltrib.com

Twitter: CimCity

Prosecutors: Probationer has girlfriend pawn stolen goods for him.