Mentally Ill Man Sent to Prison for Wallet Theft

Despite pleas from family and doctors for probation and treatment, a mentally ill Ventura man was sentenced Tuesday to seven years in state prison for snatching a man’s wallet off a restaurant table.

Martin Pollak, 39, had hoped to be sentenced to probation so he could enroll in a treatment program for bipolar and schizoaffective disorders that are at the root of his troubles.

But Municipal Judge Herbert Curtis III ruled that Pollak--with a prior felony conviction for assault with a deadly weapon and a recent history of heavy cocaine use and reported violence against his girlfriend--was more suited to prison.

“If in fact Mr. Pollak would take his Lithium and whatever other drugs he needs to take, I have no doubt he’d be a viable member of the community,” Curtis said before passing sentence. “But I have no guarantee that would happen.”

Dr. Robert Moebius, a psychiatrist, testified during the sentencing hearing that Pollak had never had violent outbursts during his entire mental illness until he started using cocaine in 1995.

Moebius said that Pollak could succeed in following the terms of probation if he gets proper medication and treatment and stays off of “street drugs.”

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And Moebius said he feared Pollak would be “preyed upon” by other inmates and denied full and proper psychiatric treatment in California’s prison system.

“He belongs in a hospital, not in prison,” Moebius testified. “I would expect him to deteriorate, and his symptoms to exacerbate.”

Norman L. Pollak, the defendant’s father, said that his son became “calm, cool and collected” when jail psychiatrists started giving him lithium a month ago.

But he also said that Martin has been suicidal at times in Ventura County Jail--and would attempt suicide again if imprisoned.

He said he feared his son would be victimized if sent to prison, but that he would succeed as a law-abiding citizen if given probation, treatment, family support and vocational rehabilitation.

Martin Pollak was convicted in 1995 of robbery and assault for brandishing a butter knife at his girlfriend and stealing her busted VCR--a first-strike felony, under California’s three-strikes law.

Then last October, Pollak got into a scuffle with a man after stealing his wallet off of a restaurant table.

He was charged with--and convicted of--armed robbery, a potential second strike.

Fearing Pollak would commit a third-strike felony while suffering from mental illness, his father refused to bail him out of the Ventura County Jail, where Pollak has stayed since his arrest.

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Deputy Public Defender Todd Howeth argued to the judge that Pollak stole the wallet while “under mental distress, and he has expressed sincere remorse for his actions.”

Howeth said that the wallet’s owner was not hurt, and that the court required no restitution of Pollak. He added, “He does not present a danger to the community . . . such that you should lock him up and throw away the key.”

But Deputy Dist. Atty. William Haney argued that Pollak failed to respect the probation terms he received after his first felony.

“Arguments were made [then] that he was a suitable candidate for probation,” Haney said. “Unfortunately, we see that when he is under the influence of crack cocaine, he is a dangerous individual.

“My duty and the duty of the district attorney’s office is to ensure the safety of the public,” Haney said. “I feel that he’s a danger to the public.”

Curtis gave Pollak two years for the robbery, plus five years for the prior felony. But the judge chose to ignore a state sentencing enhancement that would have automatically tacked on another two years or more for committing a second-strike felony.