A 19-year-old Summit County resident pleaded guilty Monday to breaking into parked cars in the Aspen area last summer and trying to use credit cards stolen from them.
Isaac Jones of Breckenridge will spend the next two years on probation after pleading guilty to felony identity theft and felony trespassing. He must also complete 120 hours of community service as part of his sentence.
Jones told Pitkin County District Judge Chris Seldin he was under the influence of alcohol at the time and that he was embarrassed about his actions.
“It won’t happen again,” he said.
Jones and Amir Alkhettab, 19, of Dillon, allegedly broke into cars at four different locations in July on Independence Pass, including the Weller Lake trailhead, the Grottos, a location in the Northstar Nature Preserve and Stillwater Bridge.
The two teens were captured after one of the victims reported his credit card stolen and was told someone had just tried to use it at the North Face store in Aspen. The man walked the two blocks to the store, saw a man with what looked to be his credit card in his hand and tried to take it away from him.
That man then pushed the credit-card owner into a clothing rack, though he still attempted to hold one of the teens on the ground until police arrived. The other teen, however, pulled the credit-card owner off his friend and the two fled.
Both men were caught after a brief foot chase in which one of them inexplicably stripped down to his boxer shorts.
Seldin noted that Jones received a “generous” deal from the District Attorney’s Office, which was likely due to his lack of criminal history, and probably deserved time in jail.
“This was quite the little crime spree,” Seldin said, noting that the spree was “bone-headed.” “In a short period of time, you made quite a bit splash.”
Alkhettab has been offered the same deal as Jones, though he has not yet decided to take the deal yet, said Scott Troxell, his court-appointed public defender.
In other court news Monday:
A Basalt woman who fled to California with her boyfriend after she was charged with drug possession and he was charged with stealing mountain bikes will spend the next three years on probation.
Elizabeth Sullivan, 33, pleaded guilty Monday to felony identity theft and a misdemeanor drug charge and was placed on supervised probation. As part of her plea deal with the District Attorney’s Office, the felony conviction will be wiped from her record if she stays out of trouble for the probation period.
Sullivan was charged with methamphetamine possession in October after police searched her apartment for stolen, high-end mountain bikes associated with her boyfriend, David Thompson.
Thompson, who was charged with two counts of felony theft, and Sullivan fled to the Los Angeles area and were subsequently arrested by Long Beach police on several drug-related charges.