A third shoplifter in high-end retail clothing thefts from stores in National City and elsewhere was sentenced to perform 10 days of public service work and ordered to pay $3,808 in restitution to the Abercrombie and Fitch store.
Mario Andres Espinoza, 42, who is also known as Mario Esker, was given credit for four days previously spent in jail by San Diego Superior Court Judge Dan Link on Nov. 7. No further jail time was ordered.
Link ordered Espinoza to stay away from Abercrombie and Fitch and the Hollister store in Plaza Bonita on condition of three years probation. Espinoza produced a money order for $980 on Nov. 7, and he was ordered to continue restitution payments at the rate of $50 per month, court records show.
Espinoza pleaded guilty to grand theft and Link reduced the offense to a misdemeanor at sentencing. He was fined $100.
The other two shoplifters, Lorena Gabriela Ramirez, 44, of Chula Vista, and Zakharias Dennis Karasoulas, 52, of Lake Elsinore, have finished their jail terms and were also ordered to pay restitution on terms of three years probation.
Ramirez was sentenced to 180 days in jail July 25 and was ordered to pay $6,643 in restitution. Karasoulas received 96 days in jail and was ordered to pay $4,876.
Link ordered Ramirez and Karasoulas to pay $6,643 and $4,876 respectively to the stores which lost clothing during the shoplifting sprees. The high-end clothing was sold at swap meets in South Bay and Spring Valley.
Espinoza was observed driving Ramirez’ black Mercedes to where he worked in the South Bay during the investigation. The thefts began in September 2015, and Espinoza was not observed as part of the scheme until April 4 at the Plaza Bonita mall.
On March 31, Ramirez was seen at the Hollister store in Plaza Bonita Mall when she concealed stacks of t-shirts valued at $658 in her large black purse. On April 4, Ramirez fled the Hollister store in National City with stolen clothing valued at $1,018.
On May 4, Karasoulas was stopped by sheriff’s deputies for speeding and weaving between lanes on Interstate 15 in his white van. Deputies discovered Karasoulas was driving on a suspended license and was in possession of 154 clothing items taken from the Hollister stores and Abercrombie & Fitch.
