by Cedric ‘BIG CED’ Thornton
May 1, 2024
Ernesha Atmore is going to prison for stealing $20,000 worth of designer sunglasses. Here’s why.
A career criminal is going to prison for more than 30 years after she was found guilty of stealing $20,000 worth of designer sunglasses from a Tampa, Florida, store.
According to Fox 13 Tampa Bay, Ernesha Atmore, 29, was seen on surveillance video using a soft-sided cooler to steal the shades. Having been in and out of prison due to previous crimes committed, she faced a harsher sentence because of recent stricter laws in Florida.
Hillsborough State Attorney Suzy Lopez said a video from several years ago showing one of her alleged thefts may have sealed her fate.
“She committed one of the most brazen thefts I’ve heard of,” Lopez said. “…When the employee said, ‘What are you doing? ‘ She said, ‘I have a taser.’ And, as you know, a taser is a weapon.”
When police caught up with Atmore several days later, they discovered stolen goods in her car.
Atmore’s lack of savvy continued in the courtroom. She rejected a three-year prison sentence offer from prosecutors, which is a move she would come to regret. First, a jury convicted her. And then came the whopping 30-year sentence. Why so long? Well, in Florida, specific retail theft laws have been strengthened in the past several years as some charges have been upgraded from misdemeanors to felonies, allowing prosecutors to add more years to prison sentences.
Before she was sentenced, Atmore faced two additional charges. One incident took place at a Zales jewelry store in Brandon Center Mall, where she was accused of trying to steal a ring valued at $8,749.99.
Due to that incident, six additional months were added to her sentence. After being convicted for those combined crimes, she will now be going away for 30 years and six months. She won’t be released until she’s nearly 60 years old.
