Don't Sugarcoat Crime

There are so many crime stories in the news, sometimes my eyes glaze over from reading them all. But sprinkled in among the dozens of tales of misdeeds I come across daily are ones like this that have at their center something more satisfying than the standard mayhem:

Scott Masters, 41, of Park Hills, was indicted this month on a charge of second-degree robbery. He is accused of stealing a 52-cent donut from Farmington Country Mart and assaulting one of the employees who tried to stop him.

If convicted, he could be sentenced up to 15 years in prison.

According to the original police report, Farmington police officers were told Masters entered the store and was seen taking a donut. When he tried to walk out without paying, he was approached by employees and asked to stop.

Witnesses said he became aggressive and assaulted a female store worker as he continued to try to leave the store. Officers later found and arrested the man at a residence on A Street.

Many are saying that law enforcement shouldn't fritter away valuable limited resources by prosecuting this man, but I'd say the fat was in the fryer when Mr. Masters made a decision to use violence against the clerk who tried to stop him from taking a powder with the purloined pastry. It's not so much the theft of a 52-cent item that's the issue here, but the way he went about stealing it.