Bon-Ton Shoplifter Gets Jail and Work Release

A 28-year-old Bethlehem man charged with stealing polo shirts from the Bon-Ton at the South Mall has been sentenced to five to 23 months in Lehigh County prison, according to a report on lehighvalleylive.com. 

King David III, 28, of 557 Ontario St., Bethlehem, and another man were charged in December with the theft and other offenses. Police said the men had tried to flee when approached by Salisbury Township police and fought with the officers in the store's parking lot. David and two Salisbury police officers were injured in the scuffle, police had said.

In February, David pleaded guilty to retail theft in a negotiated plea, according to online court records. Additional charges, including resisting arrest, were withdrawn. 

Lehigh County Judge Maria Dantos, in imposing the sentence, approved work release for David, according to the lehighvalleylive.com report.

At the time of the arrest, police said they had been dispatched to the Bon-Ton to investigate a report of a retail theft in progress. Bon-Ton security guards said two men had come into the store with an empty bag, grabbed polo shirts from the store and headed to the dressing room. The security guards said they saw the men leave the store.

Also charged in the case was Nathan A. Markham, 26, of 947 Fernwood St., Emmaus.