Pensacola man sentenced for grand theft over $20,000

ESCAMBIA COUNTY, Fla. ( WKRG ) — A Pensacola man received his sentence Thursday for grand theft over $20,000.

Honorable Judge John F. Simon Jr. sentenced Damien Matthew Lopez to 25 years in state prison as a habitual felony offender.

Simon also presided on Lopez’s trial on June 27, in which the jury found Lopez guilty as charged.

When Lopez was sentenced, the state argued he “demonstrated an inability to live in society without violating the law,” according to a news release from State Attorney Ginger Bowden Madden.

Simon noted Lopez’s extensive criminal record of 53 previous convictions including 32 felonies.

According to Bowden Madden’s news release, Lopez’s sentence stems from a March 2023 incident in which he took a trailer and tools from Select ICF, which is a concrete business in Escambia County, Florida.

Video surveillance captured Lopez at a Tom Thumb Gas Station pulling the trailer on March 16.

The Escambia County Sheriff’s Office Property Crimes Unit located the trailer on March 21, executed a search warrant that day, and recovered some of the missing tools. Lopez was then arrested and booked into the Escambia County Jail.

Assistant State Attorney Robert Little prosecuted the case on behalf of Bowden Madden, State Attorney for the First Judicial Court of Florida.

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