Prosecutors Point to Transient Suspect’s Record : Theft of $1.49 Worth of Bologna to Be Tried as Felony

After a series of petty thefts of items ranging from a case of cigarettes to a pair of pants, a 38-year-old transient could be sentenced to up to three years in state prison for stealing a package of bologna worth $1.49.

Los Angeles Deputy Dist. Atty. Jacquelyn P. Lacey, who prosecuted Leonard James Hazlett at his preliminary hearing June 26, said in an interview that her office is “obligated to go by the letter of the law” and treat him as a felon because he has at least three previous convictions for petty theft.

Hazlett was sentenced to a year in County Jail for a petty theft he committed last July, said Deputy Dist. Atty. Steven D. Ogden, who is handling the case.

In 1985, Hazlett spent 180 days in jail and three months at an alcohol rehabilitation center for another petty-theft offense, Ogden said. A complaint filed by the district attorney’s office also refers to a 1979 petty-theft conviction for which Hazlett spent three days in jail.

“If Mr. Hazlett was a first offender, this matter would have been dust,” Ogden said. “But it’s extremely apparent that he has existed by stealing and is a career criminal.

“If you don’t prosecute, what do you tell your children about people who steal? That it’s OK to pilfer if it’s under $2?”

Hazlett’s attorney, Deputy Public Defender Gerald T. Richardson, said he was “shocked” that the June 13 bologna theft from Phil’s Market in Sylmar was being prosecuted as a felony.

“Is this economical for the citizens of Los Angeles when there are so many people out there who should be housed and are a danger to society?” Richardson said. “We’re wasting my energy, the energy of the court reporter and valuable courtrooms on a $1.49 case involving a person who was hungry.”

Hazlett will be arraigned in San Fernando Superior Court on Friday.

Richardson had unsuccessfully petitioned Municipal Judge Paul I. Metzler to have the charge reduced from a felony to a misdemeanor, which carries a lighter jail sentence and is less expensive to prosecute.

During the preliminary hearing, witnesses testified that Hazlett entered the Sylmar market wearing a dirty, fur-lined coat and carrying a brown satchel into which he put the bologna. He then stood in a checkout line counting his change, leaving the line to return a can of sausages to the shelf. Hazlett then paid for a loaf of bread, a cupcake and a soft drink before leaving the store without paying for the bologna, witnesses said.

If Hazlett had agreed to plead guilty, the district attorney’s office would have reduced the sentence to a year in County Jail, Lacey said. Richardson said he refused the offer because the case is defensible on the grounds that alcohol and drug abuse affected Hazlett’s ability to recall leaving with the bologna.

“If this case goes to trial, I may hire a doctor for $1,500 to do a brain scan,” Richardson said. “That’s in addition to the $2,000 it will cost to have him transported to a hospital.”

Ogden said society cannot afford to consider the costs of prosecuting criminal behavior.

“If a Becker radio gets stolen from a Mercedes, it might cost the insurance company $3,000 to replace,” Ogden said. “That’s a very small percentage of the total cost to society for prosecuting the person who did it in a Superior Court at the rate of $3,000 a day for at least three days. Should we stop prosecuting car-radio thieves because the cost of doing it outweighs the loss of the property by a factor of nearly one to 10?”

In a jail interview, Hazlett, whom fellow prisoners call “Pops” because of his white-streaked hair, said stealing became a way of life soon after he graduated from high school and became addicted to heroin, and later alcohol and cocaine.

He said a friend wrote next to his picture in the 1967 Rosamond High School yearbook, “Lenny has the gift of gab and should be a criminal lawyer,” but that he became a petty thief and drug runner instead, taking cartons of cigarettes and clothing to support his habit.

“This time, though, I took the bologna because I was a human skeleton with skin stretched over it,” said Hazlett, who is 5 feet, 9 inches tall and weighs 145 pounds, about 15 pounds more than he did when he went to the market. “I hadn’t eaten in two days.”

Hazlett said he hopes the charge will be reduced to a misdemeanor Friday in Superior Court, although he fears the case will go to trial.

“I know they want to make an example out of me,” Hazlett said. “I say, ‘Use someone else as an example, not me.’ ”