A Toledo man who says he is innocent of stealing champagne from a grocery store has been sentenced to prison for theft.
Eddie Moss said he plans to appeal the sentence.
Moss, 65, was transferred from the jail Tuesday to the courtroom of Wood County Common Pleas Judge Matt Reger.
A jury in April found Moss guilty of fifth-degree felony theft.
He had been indicted in December after Meijer in Rossford reported the store had him on surveillance camera stealing multiple bottles of champagne on four separate occasions from July 22-Aug. 2.
In each instance, Moss entered the store with a bag, got into a motorized shopping cart and proceeded to the liquor department. He removed the security devices from the bottles and left them either in the area or his bag and exited the store without paying, according to court documents.
The value of the champagne was $1,314.
Moss said his guilty verdict was a “miscarriage of justice” and asked for an acquittal.
There is no evidence he took the alcohol and during the trial the woman from Meijer said she never saw him put anything in his bag, he said.
“This is an injustice,” Moss said.
He said he moved the bottles but never took them.
The jury saw videos of Moss four times doing the exact same thing: selecting champagne, going behind a shelf then leaving, Reger said.
Wood County Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Christopher Anderson asked for the maximum sentence.
Reger listed Moss’s previous convictions, including for grand theft, aggravated robbery and attempted burglary and pointed out Moss already has spent 36 years in prison.
He sentenced Moss to 12 months, which is the maximum allowed, in the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction.
He also appointed appellate counsel for Moss’s appeal.
