By Taxpayers Association of Oregon
OregonWatchdog.com

One of Oregon’s most notorious thieves has pleaded guilty and been sentenced to four and a half years.

Ryan Pooffenberger has been cited in over 50 separate incidences of stealing from local stores. He is estimated to have stolen over $100,000 worth of merchandise.  This is his second arrest.

Upon being caught, he fired a gun into a crowd and sped away in a car. He caused an accident and fled the scene of the hit-and-run.  He was chased down by police.

Four years is not enough to stop a thief who has looted businesses over 50 times. The fact that he endangered people by firing a weapon with people around and caused an accident with his escape, means this thief has no value for human life.

This is similar to a story we reported on a few weeks ago:

Serial thief offers lesson liberals refuse to accept

Clifford Uptegrove robbed nearly a dozen NW banks. He was caught and sentenced for 20 years.

A judge felt sorry for him and let him out 4-years early because he was old, medically ill (fear of Covid) and had a good record in prison.

In fact …

– He wasn’t that old at 59
– His medical condition was asthma
– His prison record was troubling, except for the last 9 years.

After release, Uptegrove was back to robbing banks just over a year of being freed.

He pointed guns at people, tried to car-jack others, and engaged in a dangerous pursuit with police. In a single incident he traumatized many innocent people and put countless lives at risk of injury or death.

Now he is back in prison for another 20 years.

This is a hard lesson.  Some prisoners simply DO NOT CHANGE.

In court, it was revealed that as a pre-teen his father got him involved with drugs and crime.

We keep prisoners in prison to keep them from victimizing people. If he was to serve his whole sentence, he would have spared society from 4 more years of people not being victimized.

This is why we put people in prison. It saves lives.

We need to have a policy for those who refuse to change, and for those who chose not to accept the many prison reform programs or religious ministry programs that are offered.  That policy is keeping criminals behind bars so the rest of us can be safe.

P.S. … He was caught because he lost the keys to his getaway car and a local police officer spotted him.  If not for these two coincidences, he might still be victimizing people today.

P.P.S. … Also, think of the math because he is serving an extra 20 years now, the cost to taxpayers just quadrupled.