February 13, 2020

Barry Sanders receives a 20 month prison sentence, along with five years of formal probation for repeatedly stealing from retail stores

Today, Multnomah County District Attorney Rod Underhill announced that 58-year-old Barry Sanders – who admitted he has been arrested more than 100 times – received a 20 month prison sentence, which will include five years of formal probation.

“Mr. Sanders is a professional thief with theft convictions over four different decades. This pretrial resolution is two-fold: It ensures Mr. Sanders is held accountable for his repeated thefts that have plagued the retail industry. It also ensures that once he is released, there will be a network ready to support him with intensive services and treatment so that we can hopefully end his historic pattern of committing crime in our community,” said Multnomah County Deputy District Attorney Kevin Demer, who prosecuted this case.

After changing his plea to guilty, the court convicted Sanders of two counts of theft in the first degree, and three counts of theft in the second degree.

During Sanders’ five year probation period, he will be prohibited from entering, for any purpose, any Target, Safeway, Fred Meyer, Home Depot or WinCo store. If he does, or if he commits any new crime, Sanders agreed to an additional 26 months of prison being imposed by the court. 

To encourage the court to give Sanders a lesser sentence in this case, and to prove that he will no longer engage in criminal activity, Sanders filed a two page document with the court and admitted and/or agreed to:

• That he will take advantage of programs presented and available to him;
• That he has stolen merchandise from stores throughout Portland more than a thousand times but he was caught less than 10% of the time because he is “a talent, professional thief;”
• That his criminal record supports the fact that he has had “persistent involvement” in the criminal justice system.

Like in all criminal and civil matters, electronic copies of court documents, which are not subject to a protective order, are available to the public through the Oregon eCourt Information (OECI) system.

This case was prosecuted by the Multnomah County District Attorney’s Office Strategic Prosecution and Services Unit, which reviews cases that stem from neighborhood-specific concerns. The unit is primarily responsible for interfacing with the community over specific issues, and handles all types of cases across the criminal justice spectrum to include misdemeanors and homicides.

The Multnomah County District Attorney’s Office recognizes the Portland Police Bureau, and the loss prevention teams from Target, Safeway, Fred Meyer, Home Depot, and WinCo for their dedicated efforts investigating these cases.

The Multnomah County District Attorney’s Office consulted with representatives of all of the retail stores listed as victims. They all support this pretrial resolution.   

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