AT hiker arrested in Pawling

[Wolf - 23000]

Just to keep things in prospective. Right now he is charged with a crime not found either guilty or not-guilty. What was his intent and what was he doing in the Rec Center might have been different than what he left with. He may have only left with food but could have been looking for other things to take as well. Either way, him entering a place that he had no permission to enter is wrong.

[Toolshed]

Burglary, Vandalism on some level of "government owned" property. Bastard's guilty. Nuff Said. Don't try to rationalize away crime....

[Tuckahoe]

You're looking at this the wrong way. The burglary was the felony - i.e. breaking into the rec center at night for the purpose of stealing something. Because what he stole was food of relatively little value, the theft itself was the misdmeanor.

I have to side with Old Grouse and Spokes here. Aaron king has two charges against him, the felony charge of burglary for the breaking and entering of the rec center and the misdemeanor charge of petty larceny for the theft of the food items.

He's not charged with a felony because they want to make an example of him and its not an overreaction to the theft of the food. That felony charge is because he broke into a building where he was not permitted to be to commit a theft. Had it been only the theft of food all he would be facing would be the misdemeanor petty theft charge, and probably not even that.

[STEVEM]

Look at the date on this story. The incident happened sometime before 04/14/11. This must have been settled long ago. If he's still in jail I'm sure he's eaten far more than what he was accused of stealing.

[Beachcomber]

Look at the date on this story. The incident happened sometime before 04/14/11. This must have been settled long ago. If he's still in jail I'm sure he's eaten far more than what he was accused of stealing.

Settled long ago? No court system I know of would dispose of a criminal matter that quickly. Bail was set to ensure he comes back for a court date likely months in the future. After which he may well end up with community service/restitution after a plea bargain, as several have suggested.

[Wise Old Owl]

So there are few "Aaron N. King, age 22" in Pennsyslvania.... Anyone found his facebook? His WB name?

[mweinstone]

im 50. been hungry. never stole. ever. lately i look at food and worry. i pulled up to acame and rode away with my money. i cant buy food. havent been able to in a long time. im liveing off friends resturants scraps for errands i do. i look for work every day. but my hair is scruffy , my clothes torn and stained. and i look tired and sad. but im not. inside im on fire with hope and plans and love. and i wont be stealing untill its life or death. and thats not happening today. i still got all kinds of handouts between me and stealing. ive gone to bed hungry and woke up hungry 95% of the days and nights of the last year or more. and my one thing ill never ever pawn for food is my honesty and faith in my gigantic, yet oftimes sluggish in the morning...god.

[JAK]

Well, now that we got Osama, someone else has to be public enemy #1.

[Phreak]

Burglary, Vandalism on some level of "government owned" property. Bastard's guilty. Nuff Said. Don't try to rationalize away crime....

Well said. You can't commit a crime and then b*tch about the punishment.

[mweinstone]

my friend who worked in washington says one day crime will be impossible with money when its made foolproof. i dont know, but prisons need to be doundons with rats and disece or country club islands with real rehab. but makeing them just places of no freedom and collages of crime aint it.

[hikerhobs]

Lot's of sympathy here for the thief. How about instead of some rec center he was stealing food out of hikers packs? Would there be as much sympathy? A thief is a thief is a thief.

Good point .....!

[DareN]

If he stole the food, then yes there is a victim and a crime. He owes some form of restitution to the rec center for at a minimum the value of what he stole. This is a very short article without much detail about the burglary part. It states that "he stole numerous food items from the town's recreation center" without going into any detail about how he stole those items. Did he physically break in to the rec center, or did he just lift some stuff off the counter while it was open to the public. I don't know and the article doesn't say. But burglary is a serious felony that can carry state time, and many have been charged with it for something as simple as the latter. Yes a thief is a thief that can give us all a bad name and rep on the trail.

[Hooch]

. . . .A thief is a thief is a thief.

Well said. Severity of the charges aside, no one likes a thief. Bottom line, he commited the crime, now he has to face the consequences for it, whatever they may be.

[Jim Adams]

There is nothing in this article that states that he is a thru hiker. Pretty weird place to be on April 14 if you're thru hiking. He could just be a bum with a pack like the guy at Hawk Mt. and Low Gap. It could have been assumed that he was a thru hiker just because he had a pack. Either way it still makes thru hikers look bad...that's the worst part. Backpackers may take a bad rap there from now on and he may not even be a hiker.....I see tons of school kids with backpacks every day that are not hikers.

geek

[Dogwood]

I'm familiar with Murrow Park. I have slept there as an AT thru and section hiker. They have a shelter or two out of the way just for such use and a large covered picnic pavillion with fireplace. Some short trails. It's quiet at the AT shelter. They also have seasonal showers and a swimming lake. I like the lake becuase it's shallower so it's usually warm when I've been there. It's a short walk from the downtown area. I have always done my laundry downtown at the laundromat.

The Pawling community, as well as the local police department, including authorities who patrol that park have graciously accommodated hikers. The police, while doing their duties, were very nice without chips on their shoulders to me when they checked me out in the park on two different ocassions. On one of the ocassions I encounterd a cop, he even offered me food! Mcdonald's. No shart! On another ocassion I saw no one there.

He did more than steal food! He was also charged with burglary which I think means he broke into a building. If I'm remembering correctly, there is a food/snack building and the rec center. Seems he broke into one of those buildings.

There are ways of getting a bite to eat without having to resort to larceny and burglary. I don't know the particulars, but what's one night without food for a thru-hiker? The next morning with some determination, communication, and honesty I'm fairly confident he could have went downtown and got something to eat!

$2500 cash / $10,000 unsecured bond for some food sounds like they're going to make an example out of him. 10-k

This may not be because he's being made an example of! He's a hiker, meaning he probably doesn't live in the area. They want him to answer to these charges without fleeing. He's a flight risk! Larger bonds are given in accordance with the degree of charges and potential flight risk.

I think after all the AT hikers that have stayed in that park, Pawling realizes not every hiker acts like this! It's the rare exception not the norm!

It does brink up a SIGNIFICANT point though! I learned from some responsible conscientious AT thru-hkers long ago, some you would recognize here on WB if I mentioned their names, that WHEN WE HIKE WE ALL ARE REPRESENTING THE HIKING COMMUNITY. WHAT WE DO REFLECTS ON OTHER HIKERS, INCLUDING THOSE WHO WOULD COME AFTER US!!! Hiking is not just about me me me!!!

[Dogwood]

There is nothing in this article that states that he is a thru hiker. Pretty weird place to be on April 14 if you're thru hiking. - Jim Adams

Absolutely!

Although, I think most of us know the differences between AT thru-hikers, AT section hikers, or homeless people staying on the AT, Pawling may not be aware of the differences. They may just lump all the situations together taking it as: someone(claiming to be? ) hiking the AT was arrested after breaking into a building(structure) and stealing food? at Murrow Park. These situations can bring defamation to anyone on the AT that comes into Pawling. These situations can easily lead to labeling of all hikers as ???

[TIDE-HSV]

FYI, if you don't have permission to enter a building, and you turn the knob on an unlocked door and enter, then, in almost all states, you've committed "breaking and entering/burglary." You don't really have to "break" anything. The breaking is a linguistic anomaly. One trespass count at common law is "Quare clausum fregit," or "whereby he broke the close." The "close" was the house and the immediately surrounding outbuildings. The "breaking" was entering the perimeter without permission. The bare language of the charge doesn't tell one anything. He could have simply turned the knob of a door to food which he thought had been offered. IOW, don't judge until you really know the facts...

[LIhikers]

Your ALL missing the important point.
The article said they recovered the food items....was that before or after he ate them???

[WingedMonkey]

He could have simply turned the knob of a door to food which he thought had been offered. IOW, don't judge until you really know the facts...

LOL I want to see the judge's face when the defendant says that.

[TIDE-HSV]

LOL I want to see the judge's face when the defendant says that.

Let me simplify - just entering a building to which you haven't been granted access is breaking and entering. Prosecutor love to "stack charges" as a bargaining process. Not knowing the facts, I have no way to judge (judging without the facts is popular around here.) However, I doubt that the facts will turn out to be quite as florid as the press...