Chesapeake man guilty of auto theft spree

CHESAPEAKE

It was the day after Christmas. Two people went to an impound yard on Bainbridge Boulevard late that night, stole a Jeep Liberty, and drove it into a nearby ditch.

Two weeks later, the same guys hot-wired a Ford F-650 truck at a self-storage lot on Freeman Avenue, plowed through the lot's fence - leaving behind $3,500 in damage - and rammed it into the same Jeep, still stuck in the same ditch.

So begins a five-page statement signed by one of the men, Sidney Patrick Martin, 21, of the 900 block of McKinley Ave. It describes a nine-week vehicle-theft spree from mostly businesses in South Norfolk, Deep Creek and southern Chesapeake for which officials are still totaling up the costs.

Martin pleaded guilty Monday in Circuit Court to 16 felonies - nine vehicle thefts, four attempted thefts, and three other counts of grand larceny - for which he faces a possible, if highly unlikely, 280 years in prison when he's sentenced March 10.

He appeared in court with the phrase "YEE-HAW" shaved into the back of his crewcut.

A plea agreement left Martin's sentencing up to the judge. He'll have to pay restitution once authorities figure out how much it adds up to. In return, prosecutors won't press five other felonies and a misdemeanor; they had already dropped prosecution of several related charges in September.

The statement shows what Martin agreed that prosecutors could prove at a trial. A sometimes partner-in-crime wasn't identified.

Police arrested Martin in late January, charging him with stealing a 1995 Dodge Dakota loaded with scrap metal and selling it to a man, according to the statement and court records. Those same records accuse Martin of staying busy in the weeks before and after, forming the basis for indictments earlier this month:

- Stealing and abandoning a Ford Mustang and a trio of Ford vans.

- Unsuccessfully trying to hot-wire two Ford trucks.

- Stealing $860 in copper cable and $950 in tools, later fencing the copper.

- Driving a stolen Ford Expedition to Moyock, N.C., then returning in a stolen $39,000 restored 1968 Chevrolet Camaro.

- Stealing or trying to steal engine computers, electronics and one canister of nitrous oxide.

He and the unidentified partner hot-wired a Ford Bronco, according to the statement, and "showed off" the vehicle in South Norfolk before it broke down on Interstate 464. They went directly to another business and stole a Chevrolet Blazer and a Ford Fusion, using the Blazer to bust through a fence with the Fusion following.

Along the way, he left behind fingerprints and a glove containing his DNA, according to the statement.

"You were trying to get custom engine components?" Judge Marjorie A. Taylor Arrington asked while reading the facts in court.

"Yes, ma'am," Martin responded.

"Your honor, I don't think there was any single motive for this," Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Ramin Fatehi said.

"The joyriding is inexplicable," although a drug problem could be behind the thefts, Martin's attorney, Deputy Public Defender A. Robinson Winn, said in a later interview. "He's very cooperative and contrite."

Martin was unavailable for an interview request, the Chesapeake Sheriff's Office said - he was in Chesterfield County, where he also faces charges.

More are pending in North Carolina and New York, and he awaits sentencing in Virginia Beach for eight recent convictions for grand larceny and burglary, according to court records.

Matthew Bowers, (757) 222-5221, matthew.bowers@pilotonline.com