A man’s felony grand larceny charge was downgraded to a misdemeanor Wednesday in a plea agreement with the prosecution.
Joel Gregory Smith, a 34-year-old accused of stealing from vehicles in Yorktown, agreed to cooperate with prosecutors in the case against his co-conspirator.
On Wednesday, Smith pleaded guilty to three petit larceny charges, said York-Poquoson Commonwealth’s Attorney Benjamin Hahn. Four tampering with vehicle charges and one grand larceny charge were dropped as part of the plea agreement.
Smith was sentenced to three years in prison with all but 10 days suspended, according to court records.
Smith and 33-year-old Jonathan Rudolph D’Angelo were arrested in May after the York-Poquoson Sheriff’s Office said the two were attempting to break into vehicles located around Church and Read streets in the early morning of May 23.
When deputies responded to the call, they discovered the two men in a silver Jeep Cherokee. The car fled the vehicle when deputies approached it, and after a short pursuit down Main Street, the driver ran out of the car, according to YPSO.
The passenger, later identified as Smith, was arrested immediately. Deputies located the driver, later identified as D’Angelo, a short time later.
An investigation revealed the two stole items from several vehicles in Yorktown, including a GPS unit, sunglasses, a nail gun and several items, YPSO said.
D’Angelo pleaded guilty to two felony counts of grand larceny and one felony count of eluding police in September and was sentenced to 20 years in prison, with all but four months of the sentence suspended.
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