A 61-year-old Lawrence man who is serving three years on probation for a 2006 robbery of a convenience store was arrested on a warrant Friday morning.
Cheryl Wright, a spokeswoman for the Douglas County District Attorney’s Office, said Charles E. Smith was arrested related to an alleged probation violation.
According to jail records, Smith was arrested in the Judicial and Law Enforcement Center, 111 E. 11th St. He had a court appearance scheduled for Friday morning in a drug possession case after he was arrested Nov. 24, which was 10 days after he was granted probation.
Smith pleaded no contest in May to one count of robbery after prosecutors accused him on Nov. 25, 2006, of robbing the Presto convenience store, 2330 Iowa, by pointing something under his shirt at the clerk and taking contents of the register so he could buy drugs. He was convicted by a jury in 2007, but an appellate court later overturned the conviction. After the plea earlier this year, District Judge Sally Pokorny agreed to let Smith go free after he had spent more than four years in custody for the 2006 robbery.
The hearing in his drug case is now scheduled for Wednesday.



Comments
somebodynew 1 year, 4 months ago
Another good candidate for probation !!!! Not even smart enough to make 2 weeks before being arrested again. Maybe he need some more 'school time' ?? Particularly with his past record - it isn't like this is his first rodeo.
Deb Engstrom 1 year, 4 months ago
He's probably more comfortable in prison than out -- has spent many years there during his lifetime. It's hard to make money legitimately with that kind of record.
grammaddy 1 year, 4 months ago
Not sure I understand the last paragraph. He robbed a convenience store and was convicted,served 4 years for his crime, later appealled his conviction and had it overturned. So why was he on probation?
somebodynew 1 year, 4 months ago
Because instead of re-trying the case, he took a plea bargain which gave him probation. He just couldn't abide by the rules. (not like he ever did before)
Pywacket 1 year, 4 months ago
A fact that is pertinent because......?
smitty 1 year, 4 months ago
Excellent question and ignorant response. Nam was the reason so many of our vets were/are hooked on drugs without even approaching the post traumatic stress syndrome.
The problem is keen enough that Congress recently addressed it in the Veterans Health Care Amendments of 1985, legislation signed earlier this month by President Reagan.
The law includes provisions for more drug and alcohol counseling at 10 of the 186 storefront veterans centers nationwide. It also extends a pilot program requiring Veterans Administration hospitals to refer patients in detoxification wards to community addiction services for follow-up care.
Veterans with histories of substance abuse attribute their problems to several factors associated with the war, including the availability of cheap and powerful drugs in Southeast Asia, the social pressure in certain units where drug use was rampant and the need to blunt the terror of combat.
http://www.nytimes.com/1985/12/26/nyregion/veterans-of-vietnam-gaining-new-aid-to-fight-addiction.html?pagewanted=all
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