Queens woman sentenced, freed on 10-year old shoplifting charge
By Mary K. Miraglia
HACKENSACK, N.J. (Feb. 24, 2017) — A Queens woman who was arrested for shoplifting $10,000 in clothing and jewelry from Saks Fifth Avenue 10 years ago, then went on the lam for a decade, pleaded guilty Friday, Feb. 24 and was sentenced to time served the same day.
Jamilet Huertas, 37, was delivered into the hands of Bergen County law enforcement after she was arrested in New York for shoplifting, and served six months for the crime in Rikers Island prison. At Rikers they ran her record and found she had an outstanding warrant in the decade-old crime. She told Judge Christopher Kazlau in her guilty plea that in November, 2006 she took the clothing and jewelry, and as she was leaving with the stolen property, she was stopped in the store’s parking lot by a security guard, who called police and had her arrested.
According to Huertos’ attorney, Ron Bar-Nadav of Hackensack, two friends were with her and participated in the crime. One of those friends has died in the interim, and Huertos now has five children. A native of Peru, she also became a U.S. citizen nine years ago. Although she now lives on 47th Avenue in Corona, she was living in Paterson at the time of her Hackensack arrest.
Assistant Bergen County Prosecutor Karen Gwynne recommended Huertos be sentenced to 90 days in jail, telling Kazlau the defendant has prior arrests. She was charged with second degree theft, but the prosecutor agreed to downgrade the charge to a lesser offense.
Huertos admitted being arrested for shoplifting many years ago, and Bar-Nadav said she has some arrests for petty larceny in New York. She has already served 38 days and Kazlau waived the remaining time of less than two months, allowing her to leave court with all charges resolved, a free woman.
