Man gets prison for stealing from Girl Scout

LANSING - A man who admitted stealing hundreds of dollars in cookie money from a Girl Scout last spring was sentenced Thursday to a minimum of eight years in prison.

Ingham County Circuit Judge Joyce Draganchuk said Thomas C. Dawkins, who also admitted snatching a woman's purse at a Lansing store two days earlier, has a history of serious violent crimes and "preys on vulnerable people."

She sentenced Dawkins to 8 to 25 years on two counts of larceny from a person. The sentences will run concurrently.

Authorities said Dawkins grabbed a box containing about $600 from a table near the entrance of a Kmart store on South Cedar Street on March 29. The girl, who uses a wheelchair, was selling Girl Scout cookies with her mother. The community raised more than $1,000 in response to the theft, far exceeding the amount stolen.

In the other case, Dawkins was charged with stealing a woman's purse at the Meijer store on South Pennsylvania Avenue.

Dawkins pleaded guilty in both cases in early October, saying he needed money for drugs. He read a letter of apology in court on Thursday and told Draganchuk he simply saw an opportunity to get money and was "not preying on anybody."

But the judge said Dawkins seems to act only "when he sees someone vulnerable."

"It shows he will stop at almost nothing in order to obtain money to buy drugs," she said.

The mother of the Girl Scout, Angela Wanger, told Draganchuk her daughter was traumatized by the theft and wanted to stop selling cookies. Other scout leaders told her that some of their girls were worried about selling cookies afterward, she said.

Dawkins has multiple prior convictions, including unarmed robbery and carjacking, according to statements in court on Thursday.