Larceny plea lands jail time

CLOVIS — A man charged last year with burglarizing a Clovis home was sentenced Wednesday afternoon to three months in jail, following an emotional plea conference in which the homeowners and the man's wife addressed the court.

Entering the hearing, 33-year old Wade Alley faced up to six months in jail by the terms of an agreement in which he pleaded no contest to a third-degree felony larceny charge. He faced up to 16 1/2 years if the case went to trial on all charges, said Judge Matthew Chandler, who gave Alley half the custodial time requested by the state but stopped short of his defense attorney's recommendation for a deferred sentence and three years probation.

With just over a month of time served already, Alley is due for about two months in the Department of Corrections followed by two years and nine months of supervised probation.

Alley was arrested in April last year after officers followed footprints from the burglarized Clovis residence to his front yard, and later found the stolen items inside his house. Assistant District Attorney Lance Sumrall estimated some $5,500 in expenses from the burglary still owed to homeowners.

“Any time in custody is time not spent paying restitution,” responded public defender Kristen Sample, who said Alley learned his lesson and had a large family to support.

But the homeowners each spoke in court to urge Chandler give Alley jail time.

“We prayed for you. ... we don’t wish ill for you, but there is always consequences,” said Kit Foreman, who said through tears that items belonging to her late mother were taken in the burglary and that restitution could not be made on those. “You have five babies, you are their example. They’re not going to learn if you get away with it.”

Alley apologized to the Foremans, as did his wife, who attended the hearing and told the judge that “he has learned a lesson.”

“I’ve seen him grow,” said Kimberly Alley. “I don’t just want, I need him home.”

Rusty Foreman said he didn’t think Alley’s five children would see a good example if their father didn’t have some jail time for his crime.

“Probation, they’re not going to understand, in my opinion,” he said. “As a child, you would be disciplined for your actions, correct?”

Alley addressed the court, stating he was “just ashamed of being in this situation at all.”

Chandler told Alley he respected that he was taking responsibility, which he doesn’t see every day. All the same, he emphasized the trials endured by the burglary’s victims.

“I think (your remorse) is genuine, and it’s not something that we see often in courtrooms ... But you have to understand what the Foremans have gone through,” he said. “Every time a house is burglarized in this community, it robs the freedom of that family. ... Every creak, every sound, every crash of thunder in the middle of the night causes people to relive that fear.

“It’s very difficult for people to ever be made whole when their house has been burglarized,” he continued.

Chandler denied Sample’s request that her client be given a couple weeks to finish his family’s in-progress move to a new house, and Alley was taken directly into custody.