Press Release  Shabazz Plea

Cape and Islands —  District Attorney Michael O’Keefe announced that Justice Shabazz (DOB: 2/27/1958) of New Bedford pled guilty on March 21, 2017 in Barnstable Superior Court to 4 Indictments for Larceny from a Person over 65, subsequent offenses; and 8 Indictments for Misuse of Credit Cards.  He was sentenced by The Honorable Robert Rufo to 4 to 5 years committed to MCI Cedar Junction.  The indictments stem from 4 separate offenses in which Shabazz used the same behavior to commit the crimes.  Shabazz targeted female senior citizens at local grocery stores.  When a victim turned her back to her shopping cart in order to select an item, Shabazz put a store flyer over her purse in the top child seat area of the shopping cart, and took out her wallet.  Then Shabazz pushed his own shopping cart away from the victim with the wallet on the child seat area of his shopping cart, covered with the flyer.  He then used the credit cards from the wallets  to pay for purchases in a variety of local business establishments.

    The cases were investigated by Detectives of the Barnstable and Orleans Police Departments and prosecuted by Second Assistant District Attorney Sharon Thibeault.

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