Man Sentenced to Jail for Stealing From Laramie Woman

A man who likely would have been sentenced to probation before he missed his original sentencing hearing in July was ordered to serve time in the county jail at his sentencing hearing Monday in Albany County District Court.

Mark Eitniear, 31, was given a suspended sentence of three to six years in prison with credit for time served. Instead, he will spend a year in the Albany County Detention Center with credit for time served and will serve four years of supervised probation when he is released.

Judge Jeffrey Donnell also ordered Eitniear to complete a high-intensity clinical treatment program, perform 100 hours of community service within a year of his release from jail and write an apology letter to the victim within 10 days.

Eitniear will also have to pay $3,041.43 in restitution to the victim, $505 to Mister Money pawn shop and $40 to Westbrook's Pawn Shop.

"Count yourself lucky that you're not headed straight to the state pen," Donnell told Eitniear on Monday.

Eitniear was arrested after a victim called Laramie police March 25 and said she was missing money from her bank account and money from her house.

Court documents say Eitniear stole a ring, two expensive watches, a Canadian one-ounce gold coin and a little less than $300 from the victim's bank account. Eitniear then pawned stolen items at Mister Money and Westbrook's.

Police officers took Eitniear into custody before he could leave town, arresting him March 27 on a Greyhound bus. Eitniear pleaded guilty to one count of felony theft May 17 as part of plea deal.

Eitniear was working in Tennessee when he should have been in court for his sentencing hearing July 26. The conditions of his bond did not permit him to leave the state.

Donnell said Monday that Eitniear likely would have walked out of the courtroom on probation, had he been present for sentencing at the originally scheduled hearing. Given Eitniear's absence in July and his seven previous failures to appear at court hearings on a variety of charges in North Carolina and Wyoming, Donnell felt that probation was inappropriate.

"You just don't show up, do you?" Donnell asked. "You have a very long history of very bad decisions. End of discussion."