Pair sentenced in hospital thefts

Friday, April 22, 2005 | 9:03 a.m.

A 35-year-old man and a 25-year-old mother of three who looted area hospitals in February after moving to Las Vegas from Utah were sentenced to prison on Thursday by District Judge Donald Mosley.

The judge sentenced Curtis Prindle to seven to 18 years in prison and Shannon Smock to two to five years for one count each of burglary, possession of stolen property and possession of a stolen vehicle.

Both Prindle and Smock pleaded guilty to the charges as part of a plea agreement with prosecutors to avoid facing 72 counts and 75 counts, respectively, of burglary, grand larceny, vehicle theft, auto burglary, fraud and forgery.

Chief Deputy District Attorney Frank Ponticello said the most disturbing thing about the couple's crimes was that they were "preying on average citizens who have dedicated their lives to help sick people."

Ponticello said although well-paid doctors and hospital administrators obviously worked at the hospitals, Prindle and Smock stole personal items from lesser-paid nurses, orderlies and support staff.

The prosecutor said although Smock told police she was "stealing just for the thrill of it" the fact she had no previous criminal history was reason enough for her not to have all three counts run consecutively.

Smock attempted to lay the blame for her actions on a vein that had exploded in her head and methamphetamine use, but Mosley stopped her.

"You made the decision to start using methamphetamine and this is a natural result," Mosley said.

As for Prindle, however, Ponticello said the man who had eight known aliases and hadn't worked since 2003 was "a different story."

"He has admitted the only source of income comes from theft offenses," Ponticello said. "Ordinary people get up and go to work, he (Prindle) gets up to steal from those people."

After Mosley grilled Prindle for claiming he left Salt Lake City because he couldn't find work and then couldn't find work in Las Vegas, Prindle tried to defend himself and impress the judge by citing a highlight of his alleged 15 to 20 years' experience as a truck unloader.

"I set records in Utah," Prindle said. "I unloaded 53,000 pounds of watermelon from a flatbed truck."

Unimpressed, Mosley ordered Prindle to serve all three counts consecutively.

Police arrested Prindle and Smock on Feb. 2 after a routine traffic stop. After pulling over the pair, Metro Police detectives found stolen identification, hospital equipment, hospital checks, billing information, credit cards and personal papers from Nevada, California, Utah and Arizona.

Metro also found evidence that the couple had been stealing purses, wallets, keys and cars from hospitals in Las Vegas and from hospitals in California, Arizona and Utah.