Man pleads not guilty to stealing TV, other items

Published 10:50 am Friday, December 11, 2015

A 22-year-old man pleaded not guilty Thursday after allegedly getting caught with another person carrying two televisions down a bike path in April.

Bang Tang Wuol was charged April 26 with one count of first degree burglary, one count of theft and one count of receiving stolen property. He pleaded not guilty to all three charges Thursday.

According to the report, officers responded to a report of two black males walking on the bike path carrying televisions from the area of Fourth Avenue Northeast, at about 5 a.m. Officers saw one man, a minor, walking north on the path with a television, who saw the squad car, crouched down and started to run south.

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The minor was caught by the officers, who found two televisions and a black backpack lying on the ground behind the minor. The second suspect, Wuol, was found lying on the ground in a grove of trees near the riverbank. Wuol reportedly had two Samsung Galaxy phones with a charger, a PlayStation controller and an LG television remote, which went with one of the televisions.

The minor reportedly told officers the items belonged to Wuol, who was moving in with him and the two were taking the items to his home. Wuol reportedly told officers the items belonged to “a friend” but was unable to supply the identity of the friend.

Officers believed the items to be stolen and took possession of them, advising Wuol to have his “friend” come to the police department and claim them. Officers then dropped the suspects off at the minor’s home.

Later in the officers’ shift, one officer found a white HP laptop in the black bag, which he found belonged to someone else. The officer spoke with the owner of the laptop, discovering she was away from home the night of April 25-26, returned home around 2 a.m. the 26th, and another person left the home about 3:30 a.m. but did not lock the door.

The victim woke up just before the officer arrived to speak with her, finding several items missing from her home, the door open several inches but no signs of forced entry. The suspects walked past the victim as she slept, because reportedly one of the items missing had been in her bedroom.

The missing items included the HP laptop, a Skyrim Sony PSP game case, a Sony PSP Jak and Daxier game, a Sony PSP console with the “Game of Thrones” season one DVD inside, a Sony PSP controller, an LG 48 inch television, a Vizio 32 inch television, and two Samsung Galaxy 3 cellphones and one cellphone charger. The items were valued at about $3,000. The victim’s purse was also missing but not among the recovered items. The purse was later found across the street with only $80 cash missing.

The minor was arrested at his home, but Wuol wasn’t found until later.