Catonsville resident Robert Pyle stood before a Howard County Circuit Court judge Tuesday and pleaded for leniency.
“I?m not a bad person,” Pyle told Judge Louis Becker. “I?m sorry for what I got involved in. I did something extremely stupid and I can?t take it back.”
The “something” that Pyle involved himself in was the theft of more than $108,000 of plasma TVs from his Annapolis Junction employer, Watkins Motor Lines Inc.
Becker sentenced Pyle, 38, to three years in state prison for his role in the disappearance of the Hitachi television sets stored in a freight trailer at the trucking terminal of the freight shipping company and earmarked for delivery to Circuit City stores in April 2004.
A jury convicted Pyle of burglary and theft at a four-day trial.
At Tuesday?s sentencing, Howard County Assistant State?s Attorney Lynn Marshall argued that Pyle?s theft had caused a “lasting and irreparable harm” to the company, which placed Pyle in a managerial role.
Marshall asked Becker to sentence Pyle to four to six years.
Pyle?s attorney, David Irwin, asked the judge to sentence Pyle to probation, pointing out that he has a wife and three children to feed.
Becker agreed with Marshall?s arguments.
“You played a major role in this offense. The amount of harm was excessive and you exploited a position of trust,” Becker told Pyle.
