Florida man gets 20 years in prison after he walked into a grocery store and stole 10 cartons of cigarettes worth just $600

A Florida man has been sentenced to 20 years in state prison for stealing $600 worth of cigarettes from a convenience store.

Authorities say 48-year-old Robert Spellman went into the Circle K in the 200 block of West Cervantes Street and took 10 cartons of cigarettes from a locked manager's office in the stock room on December 28. A jury in Pensacola convicted Spellman of burglary and grand theft in August. He was sentenced on Friday. 

 

The Pensacola News Journal reports that Spellman had 14 felony and 31 misdemeanor convictions prior to the cigarette theft, which qualified him as a habitual felony offender. That led to the lengthy 20-year prison sentence imposed Friday by an Escambia County judge.