Man sentenced for pawning $4,000 in tools taken from EC garage
Dec. 9—EAU CLAIRE — An Eau Claire man will spend two years on probation for attempting to pawn nearly $4,000 in tools he stole from an Eau Claire residential garage.
Justin L. Hicks, 47, 618 S. Barstow St., pleaded no contest recently in Eau Claire County Court to a felony count of theft of movable property.
As conditions of probation, Judge Emily Long ordered Hicks to pay $500 in restitution and maintain absolute sobriety. He must also undergo an alcohol and drug assessment and any recommended programming or treatment.
Long fined Hicks $1,053.
According to the criminal complaint:
An Eau Claire police officer on July 4 responded to a report of a burglary at a Piedmont Road residence. The owner said someone had stolen tools out of his garage.
The owner suspected Hicks may have been involved.
The owner said he had gotten to know Hicks over the past few months from mutual friends.
The owner said he tried to help Hicks by giving him small jobs and let Hicks stay in his basement while Hicks worked for him.
The owner said Hicks lived there the previous couple of weeks and worked construction jobs with him.
The owner said Hicks had recently gone back to the homeless shelter and was not returning his calls and text messages.
The owner said Hicks would have had access to his garage, which he did not always keep locked.
There was no damage to the owner's garage. The last time he saw the tools was the last weekend in June.
The tools taken included a nailer, air stapler for flooring, a compressor with a black hose, a framing nailer, a chainsaw and three impact wrenches. All the tools were air tools, the owner said.
A witness said he saw Hicks at the owner's residence when the owner was not around.
A police detective went to National Pawn Co. on West Clairemont Avenue and provided the store manager with a confiscation notice. The manager said he had the purchase history of the owner's tools and would be willing to release the items directly to him.
The pawn store manager said he would provide the surveillance video that captured the transaction with Hicks.
Hicks' friend told police that Hicks called her on July 1 and asked for a ride to National Pawn. Hicks told the woman that another friend had given him some tools that he could pawn.
The woman met Hicks at the Piedmont Road residence. The woman said Hicks loaded tools into the back seat of her car and they drove together to the pawn shop.
The tools were valued at $3,932.
During an interview with police, Hicks admitted to stealing the tools and pawning them.
