Michoacana Store Owner ensures beer thief is charged; Hartman gets 18 months
It’s fair to say La Michoacana Store on Kelly Avenue does a fair trade in beer sales. And would-be thieves beware, store owner Art Mendoza does not take alcohol theft lightly.
by Robin Denning
Art Mendoza, Owner of La Michocana Store, stopped a robbery at his store in The Dalles last month and has already had his day in court with the robber.
She is going to do 18 months behind bars.
During an evening shift on Sept. 5, about 5 minutes to closing, about 9 p.m., Art saw a person in his store trying to steal 30 beers from his shop on Kelly Avenue.
Mendoza started with words.
He asked the woman to pay for the beer before leaving the store.
She rejected his offer.
"They tried to attack me because they were trying to take the beer at any cost," Art said.
Art said there were three women working together on the theft, but only one tried to take the beer.
At first, the woman tried to get away, but Art locked the door, preventing her escape.
With the tide turned, she then tried to tell Art he was breaking the law before intimidating him, he said.
But she was attempting to steal from the wrong guy.
"I told them they had to pay for the beer, because they can't go out the door without paying and they say they know the law and there was no way that I could touch them, it was against the law to touch them. But what they don't know is that I'm the owner, not some kind of security guard, I own the business, they’re trespassing, they’re stealing, and I'm going to stop them," he said. “Anybody that steals at La Michoacana gets stopped, arrested and put in jail."
The woman was fighting Art, according to The Dalles Police Log. And Art ended up holding her down. Police showed up and arrested her.
When police arrived, they arrested Lindsay Ray Hartman 32, and there is no other mention of the other two women in the police log.
Art said the woman attempted to sue him for holding her against her will.
But Art was not about to stand for that either. He pushed for criminal charges, he said.
On Thursday, Oct. 27, in Wasco County Circuit Court, Hartman was sentenced to 18 months in prison in relation to the robbery.
During the hearing, Art told Hartman that he did not hate her but could not tolerate the theft of beer and the way she had treated his family and employees at the store.
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She pleaded guilty to third-degree robbery at the Michoacana and other charges related to a hit and run on Sept.30, drawing the prison sentence.
At the sentencing, Hartman apologized to Art, his family and to employees at the store for her actions and said she would use her incarceration to change her ways so that she would make better decisions in the future.
Art's example of vigilante justice is an unfortunate by-product for small business owners facing problems of theft and robbery.
"They were trespassing; they were pulverizing my business, scaring my customers, my employees, and my family. And I don't tolerate that." Art said.
