Tashina Renee Dobbins, 40, was arrested May 6 and charged with failure of a defendant on bail to appear in court, a felony.
A woman who avoided her sentencing in connection with a shoplifting incident that resulted in the death of a Jacksonville store owner is back in custody after spending slightly over a month on the run.
Tashina Renee Dobbins, 40, was arrested May 6 and charged with failure of a defendant on bail to appear in court, a felony.
She faced charges of felony petty theft starting on Dec. 21. After pleading guilty on Feb. 26, the judge permitted her release on her own recognizance pending sentencing, with the prosecutor agreeing to drop the request for her to wear a GPS ankle monitor, as per court documents. She was scheduled to be sentenced on March 31 but failed to appear, leading to a warrant for her arrest for failing to show up.
Dobbins was the initial suspect arrested following the Dec. 6 incident in which 64-year-old Ilson Miriam Kim died. Kim was hit by the driver of the getaway car while attempting to intervene in a shoplifting at her Beauty Max store on Atlantic Boulevard.
There was no negotiated sentence, according to her plea proceedings. It was an open plea, meaning she would let the judge decide up to a maximum sentence of five years in prison and hope to get some leniency for not making the case go to trial. But there was also no mention of her showing remorse or cooperation in the investigation. Her skipping court will likely have a bearing on her sentence.
On April 10 a second person, 29-year-old David Frederick Pulliam Jr., was charged with misdemeanor petty theft from $100 to $750 and resisting while committing theft, according to jail and court records. He has remained in jail in lieu of $100,000, and whether it is coincidental or not was scheduled for an arraignment to enter his plea just a day after Dobbins’ new arrest.
For Pulliam, his arrest report indicates he was the one Kim chased out of the store with stolen merchandise after entering with Dobbins who didn’t actually take anything. The Times-Union asked Dobbins’ attorney why she was charged with the harsher felony but did not get a response.
What happened to the Beauty Max store owner during the shoplifting?
Dobbins’ first arrest report states a man and woman arrived at the Beauty Max store in the same vehicle parked in a handicapped spot and were walking around inside for 20 minutes. The man is seen on security video running out with $289 worth of merchandise, and the woman casually walks out after Kim runs after him. The 64-year-old was struck by the vehicle backing out of the parking spot as the driver took off without Dobbins.
Security video shows her holding up her arms as if to say, “Where are you going?” according to the arrest report. “The female suspect does not provide aid to the victim as she walks past her in the roadway.” She is later seen on a nearby Walmart’s video being picked up by the suspect vehicle in the rear of the parking lot.
That led to her being identified and tracked down. “Although the female suspect did not physically remove merchandise from the store without paying for it, she did in fact work in concert with others to commit the theft,” her report states.
Sheriff’s Office Sgt. Steve Rudlaff said during the initial briefing to the media that there were three assailants, including one who was waiting in the getaway car.
Dobbins’ new arrest report did not list any new details other than she was taken into custody in the 2100 block of Moncrief Road.
This story was first published by the Florida Times-Union.
