District Man Indicted on Enhanced Second-Degree Theft For Theft from Ross Retail Store in Northeast

Friday, February 16, 2024

WASHINGTON – On Wednesday, February 14, 2024, Terri Ross (aka Terri Rosser), 38, of Washington, D.C., was indicted by a grand jury in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia on one count of felony second-degree theft stemming from events occurring on December 31, 2023, U.S. Attorney Matthew M. Graves and Chief Pamela Smith, of the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) announced.

            Ross is to be arraigned on February 26, 2024, at a hearing before a Superior Court judge.

            According to the government’s evidence, on December 31, 2023, Ross took clothing items without paying from the Ross Dress for Less store in Northeast, Washington, D.C. Ross was later located and arrested after investigation by the Metropolitan Police Department.    

            Ross has two or more prior theft convictions, though not from the same occasion, and therefore is subject to enhanced penalties for his alleged theft, including a mandatory minimum sentence of one year in jail for each count of theft for which he is indicted.

            Since September 1, 2023, including the aforementioned case, the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia has indicted 24 cases involving a felony second-degree theft charge based on a defendant’s two or more prior theft convictions, not from the same occasion.

            This case was investigated by the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia. It is being prosecuted by Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Lauren Gaskin.

            An indictment is merely a formal charge that a defendant has committed a violation of criminal laws and every defendant is presumed innocent until, and unless, proven guilty.