Former Lakeland contract employee given probation for theft from city

A former contract employee for the city of Lakeland charged with stealing and then pawning several items from the city was given months of supervised probation on Wednesday and put into a diversion venture Shane Lawson Jacks of Lakeland was charged with felony theft in Washington County District Court in August for stealing three chainsaws two trimmers and a leaf blower from a city building on June while working for People Operation the company that operates the city s water medication plant and also provides masses works-related services The stolen items were valued at and executives were able to identify Jacks by pawn shop surveillance video and his Minnesota driver s license The pawned items with serial numbers that matched items missing from the city totaled according to the criminal complaint Jacks who was fired by People Amenity was accepted into Washington County s diversion plan which allows first-time offenders to avoid convictions by successfully completing the conditions of probation Jacks must complete hours of neighborhood work institution or three days on the county s sentence to institution effort and pay in restitution to the city Related Articles Drunken driver who plowed into Park Tavern bar patio killing pleads guilty to murder Woman detected fatally stabbed after Burnsville police respond to domestic disturbance Teen charged in fatal stabbing of St Paul -year-old Cottage Grove school bus driver charged with DWI in February event St Paul man gets nearly -year prison term for home invasion baseball bat attack