District Man Indicted on Enhanced Second-Degree Theft for Theft from Target in Northwest

            WASHINGTON – On Wednesday, March 20, 2024, Shawn Hunter, 28, of Washington, D.C., was indicted by a grand jury in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia on one count of second-degree theft (felony) with offense committed during release enhancement, stemming from events occurring on February 27, 2024, U.S. Attorney Matthew M. Graves and Chief Pamela Smith, of the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) announced.

            Hunter is to be arraigned on March 20, 2024, at a hearing before a Superior Court judge.

            According to the government’s evidence, on February 27, 2024, Hunter took a range of merchandise without paying from the Target store located at 3505 Connecticut Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C.  Hunter was quickly located and arrested by the Metropolitan Police Department.    

            Hunter has two or more prior theft convictions, though not from the same occasion, and therefore is subject to enhanced penalties for his alleged theft, including a mandatory minimum sentence of one year in jail for each count of theft for which he is indicted. 

            Since September 1, 2023, including the aforementioned case, the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia has indicted 36 cases involving a felony second-degree theft charge based on a defendant’s two or more prior theft convictions, not from the same occasion.

            This case was investigated by the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia. It is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Campbell.

            An indictment is merely a formal charge that a defendant has committed a violation of criminal laws and every defendant is presumed innocent until, and unless, proven guilty.