Sunday, January 25, 2015

A Story From 1984 About Somebody Named "Bobby Joe Champion," And A Shoplifting Ring At Target In Ridgedale...

Stanley corporate logo, this image in public domain according to 
Wikipedia, blog post by John Hoff

A reader sent me an interesting story about somebody named "Bobby Joe Champion" (relationship to anybody else named "Champion" or "Bobby Joe Champion" unknown) which I am not publishing in its entirety...

I worked in the 1980s as a floorwalker at Target at 701 West Broadway (now Cub Foods store). I repeatedly encountered...


There. That's as much as I'm publishing because it's all very unproven. As for the Stanley logo, which goes with Stanley screwdrivers, well...I will illustrate my blog post in the way I see fit even if that means teasing my readers, just a bit. 

Let us continue...

In response to this VERY INTERESTING BUT UNSUBSTANTIATED email, I asked the reader, "But do you have any proof of these things? Any old police reports, anything like that?"

To which the reader responded:

I will tell you, I have nothing other than this court case.

http://www.leagle.com/decision/1987574413NW2d161_1565

The case contains interesting facts, and then a lot of legalese not nearly so interesting to my readers. So I am copying and pasting the relevant fact section of the case here for the perusal of my audience and, again, I do not have any proof this person named "Bobby Joe Champion" is related to anybody but HIMSELF...though in the case, this "Bobby Joe Champion" is described as the "brother" of Nona Lee Champion. 

So there's THAT. 

In some places, the name "Bobby Champion" is used, but deep in the text this person is also referred to as "Bobby Joe Champion." 

Here. Check it out for yourself and draw your own conclusions. 

(State of Minnesota v. Nona Lee Champion, No. C1-86-2188)

On December 27, 1984, Karl Pixler, a plainclothes security officer at Target in Ridgedale, saw four black women enter the store around 8 p.m. Pixler testified he got a good look at them and recognized two from seeing them in the store in the past. At trial, Pixler identified one of the two as Champion.
Pixler saw Champion push a shopping cart up the computer aisle. The women stood around the cart, with the cart next to the rack. Pixler saw them place three boxes in the cart, two of which he recognized as containing Commodore Plus 4 computers. He was not sure whether Champion had placed any of the boxes in the cart.
The women pushed the cart into another aisle. Another security officer, Timothy Fisher, arrived and told Pixler he saw two black men walking through the store. Pixler left to watch the men, and saw them walking along the main aisle, talking and not looking at any items. The men stopped at the aisle the women were in, looked towards the women, said something to each other, and then kept walking. Pixler concluded they were acting as lookouts.
Fisher recognized boxes in the cart as containing Commodore Plus 4 computers, priced at $299 each. He testified the women were crowded around the cart, and one of them removed a computer keyboard from one of the boxes and placed it in a black bag. At trial, Fisher identified Champion as one of the four women, but could not say whether she was the one who put the keyboard in the bag.
Pixler testified he saw the women leave the store one at a time and enter a blue car with a white roof, driven by one of the men. When Fisher returned to the aisle the women had been in, he found two empty Commodore Plus 4 boxes; an empty Record-A-Call box; an empty Atari printer box; and a styrofoam insert for the Atari box.
About 9 that night, a man identifying himself as Willy Wesley returned a Commodore Plus 4 computer at the Target

West Broadway store. He did not have a sales receipt. The man received a cash refund of $317.99 and left.
A security manager at Target in Crystal, Judy Larson, had been notified by Pixler about the theft at Ridgedale. Shortly before 10 that night, she saw four black women and two black men enter the store. Larson called the police.
The men went to the service desk, identified themselves as Bobby Champion and Willis Wesley, and returned a Commodore Plus 4 computer and an Atari 1027 printer for cash refunds of $317.99 and $296.79. They did not have sales receipts.
The men and women left the store together and were arrested after they entered a blue car with a white roof. The persons arrested were Nona, her brother Bobby Joe Champion, Willy Wesley, Alice Johnson, Etavia Jefferson and Tawana Williams. Pixler identified the four women and Bobby Joe Champion from police photographs as the persons he saw at Target Ridgedale. Fisher identified from police photographs Nona, Jefferson, and Bobby Joe Champion as the driver of the car.
Neither the Atari printer nor the Commodore computer returned at Crystal matched the serial numbers on the empty Ridgedale boxes, although one of the Commodore boxes did not have a serial number. Fisher testified it was common for computer items to be sold in boxes with differing serial numbers at that time of year, because items returned without boxes would be placed in empty boxes found on shelves.
The state introduced evidence relating to Nona's two prior convictions for shoplifting.
Nona did not testify. Her brother Bobby Joe testified that on the night of December 27th he returned a computer he had received as a Christmas gift, and he took along Nona and some friends. They were arrested after returning to the car.
The jury found Nona Champion guilty of theft over $250 under Minn.Stat. §§ 609.52, subd. 2(1), 609.52, subd. 3(2), 609.05 (1986). The trial court rejected her motion for a dispositional departure and sentenced her to the sentencing guidelines' presumptive sentence of 19 months imprisonment. 
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IF ANYBODY CAN TELL JNS BLOG about connections (if they exist) between "Nona" and this "Bobby Joe Champion" and anybody else who might have similar names, JNS blog is oh-so-interested and, as always, has its bloggy ear to the ground. 
Ouch.
Cold. The ground is cold. 
That was just supposed to be a metaphor, you know. Don't go putting your bare ear on cold Minnesota ground. 

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

More examples of your unethical blogging in which you attempt to tarnish the name of an elected official with allegations.
Guess a scumbag like you will NEVER change.
You are just a bundle of lies in legal briefs.

Johnny Northside! said...

A mugshot link for one "Nona Lee Champion."

Unknown if this is the same woman mentioned in the court case above, since the court case doesn't give her age and birthday.

http://www.bustedmugshots.com/minnesota/minneapolis/nona-lee-champion/105595781

Johnny Northside! said...

Nona Lee Champion again.

http://www.bustedmugshots.com/minnesota/minneapolis/nona-lee-champion/107454821

Johnny Northside! said...

And yet again.

http://www.bustedmugshots.com/minnesota/minneapolis/nona-lee-champion/105160991

Johnny Northside! said...

Here is something filed by a "Nona Champion" in the United States Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit, which includes Minnesota. It is some kind of prisoner petition to vacate sentence. Doesn't look like it got very far.

http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/granule/USCOURTS-ca8-08-01381/USCOURTS-ca8-08-01381-0

Johnny Northside! said...

Sorry, make that "Nona Lee Champion." Her full name is further down in the text.

Johnny Northside! said...

A few interesting facts in this document. Something about conspiracy to commit bank fraud and possessing counterfeit securities.

http://media.ca8.uscourts.gov/opndir/09/04/081381U.pdf

Johnny Northside! said...

A little piece of docket info that turned up...

2/13/2008 450 ORDER as to Nona Lee Champion - IT IS HEREBY ORDERED 1) Deft's Motion for Order to Set Scheduled Restitution Payments 436 is Denied as moot; 2) Deft's request for a Certificate of Appealability 438 is Granted; and 3) Deft's Motion for Leave to Appeal In Forma Pauperis 446 is Granted. (Written Opinion) Signed by Senior Judge Paul A. Magnuson on February 13, 2008. (smr) cc: paper copy to Deft. Modified Text on 2/13/2008 (las).

Anonymous said...

Nona Champion is Senator Bobby Joe Champions sister and is one of those who allegedly benefited from the CSI contract.

Anonymous said...

That is Nona. I have written to you about her before (but I misremembered her name as Nina). I worked in Asset Protection at the downtown Minneapolis Dayton's, and she was known to us. We even knew what her car looked like. This was in the mid 90s. She would park outside on 8th Street between the parcel pickup door and a side door that led to handbags, and she would send in runners who stole things and then ran back to the car. She had a booster house where she sold stolen merchandise in North Mpls. She also worked at The City Inc. during that time. Most of her runners were drug addicts.

Anonymous said...

Anyone who has been a true part of Minneapolis knows exactly what they are about(CRIME). The status quo continues, even in politics.

Johnny Northside! said...

Yeah, that's ALLEGEDLY a court case with the name Bobby Joe Champion. If Mr. Champion would like to respond, I will print his response.

Anonymous said...

http://pressnews.com/2014/07/31/maple-grove-police-98/

Crime
Maple Grove Police
By Sun Press & News
July 31, 2014 at 6:47 am

Gregory Thomas, 55, of Minneapolis was arrested July 10 for shoplifting, giving peace officer a false name, warrant arrest and trespass notice served on the 13100 block of Weaver Lake Road.

Nina King, 43, of Minneapolis was arrested July 10 for shoplifting on the 13100 block of Weaver Lake Road.

Nona Champion, 54, of Minneapolis was arrested July 10 for shoplifting on the 13100 block of Weaver Lake Road.


http://jail.com/arrest-records/nona-champion-8227680