Judge gives probation in shoplifting case

Rosa Mos Bernabe, 32, received two suspended sentences and probation for her part in a shoplifting spree that involved nearly $28,000 of merchandise taken from local department stores.

On June 27, a security guard, who had been alerted by an employee at Dillard's at South Towne Center that merchandise was missing, spotted a man and a woman with bags stuffed with clothes. He tried to stop them, but they fled.Sandy police later arrested Mos Bernabe, who originally was charged with theft by receiving stolen property, a second-degree felony, and retail theft (shoplifting), a third-degree felony.

The first charge later was amended to theft by receiving stolen property, a third-degree felony.

Paul Quinlan, Mos Bernabe's attorney, said Friday that there were some unusual circumstances in the case. Mos Bernabe, who is legally in the United States from El Salvador, had just endured the death of a child and had been having marital problems in California, where she lives and works to send money to her other four children in San Salvador. Those children live with her parents.

She hitchhiked to Salt Lake City to visit a friend but could not find her, and she became friends with the man suspected of taking part in the thefts. All of the merchandise was recovered.

Third District Judge Sheila McCleve told Mos Bernabe, who does not speak English, that she understands that it can be difficult to be in a strange land. But, the judge said, that is not a reason to panic and turn to crime.

McCleve sentenced Mos Bernabe to zero to five years in prison on both felony counts, but suspended the sentence and imposed 36 months' probation. Mos Bernabe can return to return to California to continue working. "If you have parents, whom you dearly love, and if you've got teenage children whom you dearly love, the last thing you want is for you to be a thief and have them think of you that way," the judge said.