BANGOR, Maine — The woman who pawned jewelry her boyfriend stole during a series of burglaries last summer in Bangor pleaded guilty Tuesday at the Penobscot Judicial Center to two counts of receiving stolen property.
Lindsay K. Pelkey, 24, of Bangor was sentenced to a year in prison with all but 60 days suspended. She began serving her sentence immediately.
Pelkey pleaded guilty to one Class C crime, a felony, and one Class D crime, a misdemeanor.
District Court Judge Charles Budd also ordered Pelkey to pay $1,650 in restitution after accepting the plea agreement.
Her sentence on the felony is a deferred disposition. If Pelkey commits no new crimes in the next year, she will be able to withdraw that plea, and plead to a second misdemeanor crime and be sentenced to one year in prison, all suspended, and a year of probation.
The sentence was the result of a plea agreement between Assistant District Attorney Susan Pope and defense attorney Logan Perkins of Bangor.
By pleading guilty, Pelkey admitted that if the case had gone to trial, the prosecution could have proven that she pawned thousands of dollars worth of stolen jewelry to a local pawn shop on three separate occasions. Pelkey was turned away on her fourth trip to the pawn shop when the owner noticed she previously pawned jewelry that later was reported stolen, Pope told the judge.
Pelkey faced up to five years in prison and a fine of up to $5,000 on the felony charge. That is the sentence and fine she would face if she does not abide by the conditions of the deferred disposition or commits a new crime. She faced up to a year in prison and a fine of up to $2,000 on the misdemeanor charge.
Her co-defendant, Nelson B. Keyser, 25, of Bangor, who was arrested in September 2015, is to appear before Superior Court Justice next week on nine counts of burglary, 10 counts each of theft by unauthorized taking and violating the conditions of his release from a prior arrest and one count of theft by deception. He was indicted by the Penobscot County grand jury in December 2015.
Keyser pleaded guilty earlier this year to breaking into eight homes during August and September 2015 on Howard, Harvard and Essex streets. He stole thousands of dollars worth of jewelry and electronics while out on a deferred disposition for a burglary of a locked motor vehicle and forgery, according to the DA’s office. Keyser admitted he used the money to buy drugs.
He has been held at the Penobscot County Jail since his arrest.
Keyser faces up to 10 years in prison and a fine of up to $20,000. He also could be ordered to pay restitution.