WILTON – A Phillips woman was arrested last week on a burglary charge, with police alleging that she stole items from a residence she had been hired to clean.
Janessa Thomas, 29 of Phillips, was arrested on the charge of burglary, a Class B felony, as well as theft by unauthorized taking, a Class C felony. The arrest followed an investigation by Wilton Police Officer Brian Lynch into a complaint from a Wilton resident.
According to court documents, Lynch responded to a Wilton residence on Dec. 19 after receiving a report about a burglary from a resident there. That resident indicated that she had accidentally left the door unlocked upon leaving her residence for an appointment. When the resident returned home at approximately 3 p.m., she found the gate to her yard was unlatched and her dog was agitated. Later that day, the resident reportedly discovered that a ceramic canister containing roughly $200, the doily the canister was sitting on and roughly 10 Oxycodone pills were missing. Later that day, the resident also reported to police that several of her checks were missing.
The resident told Lynch that she suspected her cleaning lady, Thomas, had taken the items, as she had told Thomas that she would not be home on the morning of Dec. 19. A neighbor also informed the resident – and, later, Lynch – that he had seen a tall woman arrive in a silver-colored vehicle at the residence that day.
Lynch determined that Thomas had previously been charged with stealing drugs by Franklin County Sheriff’s Office Sgt. Matthew Brann in 2018. That theft had targeted a client of Thomas’ cleaning business. Lynch also learned that Thomas owns a silver Dodge Nitro SUV.
Lynch, Brann and FCSO Deputy Alec Frost went to Thomas’ residence in Phillips in the early-morning hours of Dec. 20 to conduct a bail check, per Thomas’ conditions of release relating to the previous guilty plea and an associated deferred disposition. Once there, Lynch said that he saw a ceramic canister, matching the description of the one taken from the Wilton residence, sitting in the front seat of Thomas’ vehicle.
Thomas denied that she was at the Wilton residence on Dec. 19 and said that the canister in the front seat of her car had been given to her by her grandmother. Lynch conducted a search of the residence and the vehicle, locating the doily in the vehicle. Upon being told by Lynch once again that she had been seen in the Wilton neighborhood, Thomas reportedly said that she had lent her vehicle to an unidentified friend.
The theft charge was elevated from a misdemeanor to a felony, due to prior convictions for theft against Thomas.
Thomas was on a deferred disposition relating to a previous conviction for misdemeanor theft by unauthorized taking. Thomas pleaded guilty to that charge, which involved the theft of medication on Feb. 12, on Aug. 7. Sentencing was deferred until May 2020, with the understanding that Thomas would refrain from new criminal conduct.
The state has filed a motion, dated Dec. 20, to terminate the deferment and impose sentence, based off of probable cause associated with the recent incident. A hearing hasn’t been set yet to review that matter.
Nice work! You must have laughed like hell when u saw the canister in her car still lol.
Nice work!
This sounds like strong police work to me. Asking questions, following leads, and sharing information between agencies. When will these people realize that being a dirt bag doesn’t pay?
Plea deal, felony will be reduced to a misdemeanor. Hopefully not.
Its really unfortunate when someone who was so successful in high school amount to this as an adult. Drugs don’t discriminate. She has several young children. I hope she gets the help she needs.
It’s both astounding and laughable how many blatant lies people will tell. Kind of surprised she didn’t try denying knowing herself as a last resort.
Shame on you for taking advantage of someone that probably trusted you and gave you a chance when probably no one else would.. You get what you deserve.
I know this person. She needs to get help not only for herself, but for her 3 children. She got lost and has hit well below rock bottom
Her business (down n dirty ) are giving special deals.
Lock your medicine cabinets,wallets and cash,cause she’ll take you to the cleaners.
Good work to our police departments! It’s really aggravating when you hire someone to do a job for you and you are treated like this. You pay them and the entire time they are looking around to see what else they can take from you. You feel so violated. Knowing that they “pawed” through your belongings because the things that were taken you hid. Afraid that there’s going to be another day, more taken. It gives those trust worthy people a hard time finding jobs they enjoy doing.
The shame is that law-abiding citizens forced to live with people like this they can continue to infringe on our rights she will be running around the area free as a bird and that is a punishment to us all .she is not a new face to crime like this.Unfortunately society believes these people can be cured ,fixed ,rehabilitated I don’t believe that.Deinstitutionalization and soft on crime politicians have left us to Deal with these threats lock your doors people did your security cameras out We are in this for the long-haul
Anon , you hit it right on ! I really wish there would be more people out there that wanted to lift the broken up and try and find a solution to this horrific epidemic that is taking so many lives . They are parents, someone’s daughter ,wife, husband , mother . Drug addiction stops at nothing !! They are broken , scared and so confused . Try not kicking them when there down , try lifting them up
Hopefully my roombas stays out of my medicine cabinet
To Boss Head- Addiction IS treatable but unfortunately the accessible resources for most people are poor. There are not enough to go around, no money to support these programs, while big pharma gets to literally steal from Americans because of partisan politics protecting their pricing and how they market to physicians. People aren’t hopeless- It’s money and the larger system that are. Addiction IS treatable. If we perpetuate that it isn’t, it doesn’t give anyone any incentive to get clean, does it?
Yes there are a lot of folks who have been given dozens of chances but maybe it’s not their addiction that’s the problem, maybe their just rotten people? Personality plays a role in this. Some people will never escape addiction simply because they have too many demons. But do NOT cast off everyone. That will perpetuate this problem and give addicts an excuse for their behavior “Well, I was made like this and so I can’t change”.
And if you don’t know anyone addicted, consider yourself lucky. It’s not hard. One hard working man or women’s workers comp injury can lead to a lifetime of repercussions. Addiction doesn’t discriminate against good people or bad, just some jobs, people, and cultures put individuals at higher risk.
Please note that these kind of addictions are all consuming and thank god we presently have a governor that has implemented progressive ways to deal with good folks who make bad decisions ,Look at the face in the mirror thats right YOU have made some too maybe not to that degree ,But come on,This could be your daughter or son tomorrow ,Then you dont have to throw that stone to far then will you?
Three kids, a drug problem and a society that thinks the solution is to throw taxpayer dollars at it. Bad choices, I dont even know where to begin. What I do know is how a lot of hardworking people who struggle every day to make it and never get help look at taxpayer handouts. It never ceases to amaze me how generous people are with some one else”s tax money. The unseen cost to all of this is good people giving up the struggle and turning to drugs and free rides because they see how easy it is to do it. I have never seen anyone in this life that didnt need a hand at one time or another but I have seen many that didnt get that small nudge to get over the hill when they needed it. It was a bitter pill to swallow. All or nothing, no problem see you at the mailbox.
Safe to say that the Deferred Disposition is now in question. I would like to think that she was offered a “helping hand” last time. I hope that she is this time too. I hope this is a wake up call for her, her family, her attorney, and the courts. It’s one thing to make a mistake and get caught. Its another thing to PROMISE not to do it again and get caught doing it again knowing what the repercussions might be.
It is a terrible feeling knowing that those children will somehow be paying part of the price for that (second) moment of bad judgement.