Serial Target Shoplifter Pilfered TI Graphing Calculators

A man who repeatedly shoplifted from area Target stores was sentenced to 3 to 23 months in prison. The item he targeted: Texas Instruments graphic calculators.

Per court records, David Gentile would slice out the calculators from their blister packs. He was caught stealing several times from several Targets in a short amount of time. “I was a scumbag for six months and I take responsibility for all that I did,” he said in court.

The Inquirer explains the weird situation that saw him continually arrested for stealing graphing calculators from different Targets. He got out on bail each time and continued on his shoplifting spree.

Gentile’s first arrest for Target shoplifting was on April 5, 2013, in Bucks County. He was released on bail and three days later was arrested again in Bucks County. He was released on bail and on May 4, 2013, was again arrested in Bucks County and, once again, released on bail.

And so it went — arrest after arrest, bail after bail, bench warrant after bench warrant — through Bucks, Philadelphia, Montgomery and Delaware Counties until his last arrest on Nov. 20 at the Target in Springfield, Delaware County.

His 3-to-23 month sentence is consecutive with his 1-to-5 year sentence in Montgomery County. His lawyer says the shoplifting began when he became addicted to painkillers. “This is no monster,” Nicole Cross said. “This is a guy who screwed up because of drugs.”

[Inquirer]