From The Sun Sentinel - October 1997
Shoplifter gets 15 years under 'two strikes' law
By KEVIN KRAUSE
Staff Writer
A habitual offender, Theresa Ann McKenzie has been arrested at least 18 times in the past 10 years on a number of charges, including grand theft, robbery and burglary.
For her, jail has been a revolving door.
But on Thursday, the law came down hard on McKenzie, 33.
She was sentenced to a mandatory 15 years in state prison for stealing $20 worth of Fruit of the Loom underwear from a Lantana store in June.
The innocuous four packages of men's undershirts may have spelled the end of McKenzie's career of crime for some time, but other factors were behind the relatively strict sentence.
The Boynton Beach woman on Thursday became the first person in Palm Beach County to be prosecuted under the state's new Prison Release Reoffender Punishment Act, known as the "two strikes, you're out" law, which took effect on May 31.
Under the statute, offenders who commit a violent felony within three years of being released from state prison must serve the maximum penalty for the offense.
For McKenzie, that means 15 years, no less.
Without the law, McKenzie would face 12 to 21 months in jail under the current sentencing guidelines.
"[The statute] applies in this case; it is suitable in this case," Circuit Court Judge Mary Lupo said on Thursday before sentencing McKenzie.
Her face contorted with tears, McKenzie shouted "1 love you" to her mother and niece as she was led away in handcuffs.
The events that led up to the landmark sentence began in 1990, when McKenzie was convicted of selling cocaine within 1,000 feet of a school.
She served four years in state prison and was released in October 1994.
McKenzie subsequently was arrested more than a half-dozen times, on misdemeanor and nonviolent felony charges.
Five times she was convicted since her release from prison.
On June 6, McKenzie tried to walk out of The Family Dollar Store in Lantana with the four underwear packages sticking out of her silver purse.
When the manager, Marilyn Soto, tried to stop her, a struggle ensued and McKenzie shouted, "Let go or l'll cut you, bitch," Assistant State Attorney Mitch Kitroser said on Thursday.
The threat turned a potential shoplifting charge into robbery, a second-degree violent felony, which also meant "strike two" for McKenzie, Kitroser said.
She was convicted of that charge on Aug. 26, clearing the way for the new law's first application in the county.
Kitroser said the sentence will send a message to other habitual violent offenders that they will no longer be able to manipulate the system and will face lengthy prison terms if they continue to commit crimes.
"This is the type of statute that is a crime fighter," he said. "It
breaks the cycle, because 15 years is a lot of time. Hopefully, [McKenzie] will
be ready to start a new life when she gets out."