Imagine walking into a store to find the same face repeatedly, notorious for stealing, this time making a bold escape with a 70-inch television, oblivious to the security guards trying to stop him – a regular occurrence in downtown Seattle, a city grappling with a rampant homeless offender problem.
John Ray Lomack, a Seattle resident with an extensive record of legal troubles since the 1980s, is back at it again, this time pilfering from a downtown Target store – his grand finale being a stolen 70-inch television, a piece of loot worth over $600.
Reports from Target staff illustrate a pattern of habitual theft from Lomack. Over the course of several weeks since October, he had embarked on a shoplifting spree, victimizing this particular store an astonishing twenty-two times.
The pilfered goods amounted to a staggering total of over $6,000, with the crowning act being the theft of the large-screen television. Lomack was caught red-handed on surveillance footage, casually loading the TV into a shopping cart and sauntering out, making no effort whatsoever to pay for the item.
When security guards attempted to stop Lomack and retrieve the stolen goods, the thief proved elusive, circumventing their efforts and exiting the store via an alternative route.
Unfazed by his pursuers, Lomack continued down the street, dragging the bulky TV behind him, until Seattle police finally caught up to him. They commanded him to relinquish his ill-gotten gains, only to be met with Lomack’s denial of the blatant crime.
“I didn’t steal nothin’, man!” was Lomack’s defiant response. He insisted he had purchased the TV, but when asked for proof in the form of a receipt, came up empty. Lomack put up a fight when the police tried to arrest him, resulting in a physical struggle, but the officers eventually managed to apprehend him.
Lomack’s predicament was further complicated by his purported homeless status. The role this played in his dealings with the law became evident when he appeared before Judge Kuljinder Dhillon, a jurist known for her leniency toward Seattle’s homeless suspects. Indeed, just the previous month, Judge Dhillon had released Lomack without bond for a different burglary offense, only for him to revert to his criminal ways.
A King County prosecutor pushed for a $5,000 bond, citing Lomack’s extensive history of ‘warrant activity’ and his track record of 32 arrests and cases dating back to 1985, including 18 felony and misdemeanor convictions.
Despite this, Lomack found himself standing before another judge, Melinda Young, who also has a reputation for leniency towards homeless offenders. Citing a COVID-19 exposure that rendered Lomack ‘medically unavailable’ and required him to quarantine, Judge Young chose to release him without bail yet again.
This incident has stirred strong reactions, especially among conservatives who are frustrated with the pattern of leniency displayed by judges towards offenders. Jason Rantz, a host on 770 KTTH Radio, expressed his exasperation, saying, “Homeless people have completely taken over downtown Seattle.” This case underscores the need for a serious discussion about the handling of habitual offenders and the impact of this on community safety.
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Source: AWM
