San Diego

A former security guard at a Robinson’s department store who shoplifted thousands of dollars worth of clothing items was ordered Friday to perform 300 hours of volunteer work.

No jail time was given Eileen Ford, 32, who was placed on five years’ probation by San Diego Court Judge William Mudd.

Mudd ordered Ford, who is now living in Orange County, to pay $5,000 in restitution to the Robinson’s store at University Town Centre in San Diego where she worked.

Mudd suspended a 270-day jail sentence and warned Ford she would go to jail if she shoplifted again.

Both the prosecutor, Al Barret, and Ford’s attorney, Elisabeth Semel, agreed that the store’s loss was $65,000.

The store got back most of the 2,200 items of clothing and purses and the total value believed stolen was about $200,000. Most of the clothes still had their price tags attached and they filled Ford’s home, car and garage.

Barret said part of the problem in determining the amount stolen was that Ford purchased many of the items. Investigators spent months combing through the items.

Ford had also worked as a special education teacher at Hanson Lane Elementary School in Ramona, but Semel said she has since lost that job. She was placed on a leave of absence after her arrest last December.

Semel said Ford faced the possibility of losing her credential because of her felony conviction. She pleaded no contest to grand theft July 20.

Mudd said he gave Ford a break because the “circumstances merit special consideration.”

“Miss Ford, you are a textbook example of a compulsive personality . . . The majority of the items were never worn. The tags were still on them,” Mudd said.

Mudd ordered Ford to continue with her therapy and warned her that failure to cooperate with her therapist would be a violation of probation and would lead to a jail sentence. Ford could have received a three-year state prison sentence.