Michael Smith, 26, Indicted on Enhanced Second-Degree Theft for Theft from CVS in NW

Thursday, March 21, 2024

WASHINGTON – On Wednesday, March 20, 2024, Michael Smith, 26, 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 October 6, 2023, U.S. Attorney Matthew M. Graves and Chief Pamela Smith, of the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) announced.

          Smith is to be arraigned on April 8, 2024, before a Superior Court judge.

          According to the government’s evidence, on October 6, 2023, Smith stole several items from a CVS store on Georgia Avenue in Northwest, Washington, DC, by putting store merchandise into a bag in the store before walking out.    

          Smith 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 36 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 Erika Norman.

          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.