Jury finds man guilty of stealing ring from customer

A man who appealed his misdemeanor theft charge was found guilty by a Franklin County jury on Tuesday.
Christopher Lynn Hill, 49, 2180 College St., Leighton, was found guilty of third-degree theft of property, officials said.
According to reports, the charge stemmed from an incident that allegedly took place on May 30, 2010, at a residence in a rural area near Belgreen.
Officials said that the elderly female victim called her satellite service provider on that day when she got home from church to fix some problems she had been having with her two television sets.
The satellite provider sent Hill, who was employed with the company, to the victim’s residence and, according to reports, he stole a 14 karat gold necklace that was inside the victim’s bedroom.
“This lady left her gold necklace laying on a towel on the TV that was in her bedroom,” Franklin County District Attorney Joey Rushing said. “She said that while she was watching him work on the TV, she saw him take the necklace off the towel and put it in his pocket.
“Since she was an older lady and lived by herself, she said she didn’t want to confront him about it at that time. When she contacted him at a later time to ask him to return the necklace, he denied taking it.”
Rushing said this is when the victim contacted authorities, who launched an investigation into the allegation.
“Throughout the investigation, Mr. Hill was very uncooperative with efforts to resolve the issue and charges for theft third were filed.”
Rushing said since the charge is a Class A misdemeanor, the case was tried in District Court in 2011.
At that time, Rushing said Judge Paula McDowell found Hill guilty of third-degree theft of property, but he appealed the case to Circuit Court.
“It took about a year to get the case through all the channels in Circuit Court,” Rushing said. “The jury took about two and a half hours on Tuesday after the closing arguments to find Mr. Hill guilty of theft third once again.
“It is always difficult to try a case where it is the victim’s word against the defendant’s word, by this lady had absolutely no reason to lie about him stealing her necklace. She wasn’t suing the company he worked for or suing him civilly, she just wanted him held responsible for what he did.
“We appreciate the jury taking the time to go over all the facts and we’re glad they found him guilty of stealing the necklace.”
Rushing said a sentencing date for Hill has not been set. He is facing a sentence of up to a year in jail and a $1,000 fine.