Suspended sentences granted Joplin man on stolen identities convictions
May 13—A Joplin man was granted suspended sentences and probation when he pleaded guilty Monday to two counts of trafficking in stolen identities.
Dailan T. Fitts, 32, pleaded guilty to the counts in Jasper County Circuit Court in a plea deal dismissing related counts of receiving stolen property, stealing and fraudulent use of a credit device from arrests in 2022 and 2023.
The defendant's plea deal called for suspended sentences with restitution, which Judge Dean Dankelson accepted, assessing Chandler underlying sentences of 10 years on each of the convictions and placing him on supervised probation for five years. The judge further ordered that Fitts pay $1,075 in restitution.
Joplin police were investigating the theft May 26, 2023, of identification, credit and debit cards and some cash from a vehicle parked in the 600 block of South Forest Avenue when they learned that someone had tried to use one of the victim's cards at the Target store on East Seventh Street.
A review of store surveillance footage led to the identification of Fitts and his arrest at his residence, where investigators found 55 identification, credit and debit cards belonging to 10 or more people.
At the time, Fitts already was facing charges of trafficking in stolen identities and receiving stolen property from a Sept. 22, 2021, traffic stop of a vehicle in which he was a passenger. City jail staff discovered, during booking on the warrants arrest, eight other people's identification cards in a backpack he was carrying.
