Prosecutor: Woman at center of alleged theft ring

DELAWARE — The group of eight people who allegedly carried out thefts along U.S. 23 was organized around a mother and her two sons, according to Delaware County Assistant Prosecutor Douglas Dumolt.

At the center of the ring, he said, was Wendy Emmons, 46, a Marion resident now serving a two-year prison sentence on a robbery conviction. On Oct. 30, 2013, she was allegedly attempting to steal items from the Wal-Mart store in Marion and struck a loss prevention agent, cutting her chin, when staff tried to stop her, Dumolt said, adding he believes the ring began operating in early 2014 but that the Wal-Mart theft attempt was a similar act.

Emmons initially received community control sanctions in a guilty plea, but her probation was revoked in May after a petty theft charge in Richland County. Attorney Thomas Waldeck, who represents Emmons in the Delaware County case, did not respond to a request for comment.

Court documents in the 2013 robbery case also listed Emmons as having a criminal record including check fraud; multiple counts of theft in Ontario, Marion and Delaware; and possession of drug paraphernalia and criminal tools. According to Dumolt, she had a criminal history with Philip Burkholder, outside of the alleged ring, that dated back to about 1989.

"(Emmons) was the connection between her sons and her sons' girlfriends, who are the other members of (the ring)," Dumolt said. "Jordan (Emmons) and Justin (Emmons) got their girlfriends and ex-girlfriends and friends to go out and steal stuff in exchange for heroin and money and then they would pawn them up through Wendy's contact, Phil Burkholder. ... She's the nexus of it."

Wendy Emmons' sons — Justin Emmons, 26, and Jordan Emmons, 23 — were indicted and have active warrants for their arrest, as do Brittany Chafin, 23, and Sasha Steele, 23. According to Dumolt, current and past girlfriends of the Emmons brothers said they'd become addicted to drugs during the relationships and that they took part in the thefts because of their addictions.

Dumolt said Justin Emmons had dated Stevie Henry, 25, in the past and that Chafin was his "on-again, off-again" girlfriend, while Jordan Emmons had previously dated Steele. Michael Jenkins, 32, was a friend of both brothers and is the eighth person charged in the case.

According to Dumolt, the Emmons brothers did not sell drugs to the others but acted as intermediaries between them and dealers who are still being investigated but may have operated in Marion and Franklin counties.

"They were converting stolen items to cash ... (so) they could use cash to buy drugs," Dumolt said, adding that heroin was the principal drug but cocaine also was  sought.

According to the prosecution, the thefts were carried out at retail and grocery stores by loading a shopping cart with "small, high-value items" and having an associate stand by the entry doors so they stayed open while the other individual took the cart outside, sometimes with loss prevention in pursuit. In one instance, Dumolt said, they stole around $2,000 worth of M&M's candy bags.

All eight members of the alleged ring were charged with one count of engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity, a first-degree felony, and one count of money laundering, a third-degree felony.

Seven also were charged with counts of theft as a fifth-degree felony, and Burkholder, 82, was charged with two additional counts of money laundering for his alleged role as a fence, selling stolen items at auctions. According to Dumolt, money laundering statutes are quite broad in Ohio and they applied because Burkholder allegedly engaged in transactions knowing the items were stolen, and his purpose was to further corrupt activity, specifically drug purchases.

Wendy Emmons pleaded not guilty Wednesday to all charges, which included four counts of theft as a fifth-degree felony. She also  was charged with two counts of theft as a fifth-degree felony Aug. 11 in Richland County Common Pleas Court.

Michael Jenkins and Justin Emmons also were charged with four counts of theft as fifth-degree felonies, while Jordan Emmons was charged with three fifth-degree theft counts and Chafin, Henry and Steele were each charged with two.

Marion County court records show that Jordan Emmons and Sasha Steele were previously charged together in 2010 and pleaded guilty to one first-degree misdemeanor charge of theft each, and Jenkins was convicted last year of receiving stolen property, a first-degree misdemeanor.

Attorneys representing Jenkins, Henry and Burkholder did not respond to requests for comment, and those at large have not been assigned attorneys. The Emmonses, Jenkins, Henry and Steele are from Marion, while Chafin is from Delaware and Burkholder is from Forest.

shickey@marionstar.com

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Twitter: @SpenserHickey