I just checked in on the fate of Justin Clarke, the smooth-talking subject of this story I wrote last year. Turns out he was found guilty earlier this year of 41 felony counts, including several burglaries, and was sentenced to serve 44 years and 8 months in state prison.
When I interviewed him, over several hours in the interview room of the San Diego Central Jail, Clarke maintained his innocence in many of the dozens of charges against him. He claimed he had not burglarized anybody’s home, and that he had merely bought stolen credit cards from a fence and used them to buy goods from stores which he then sold for cash to friends and acquaintances.
Evidently the jury didn’t buy his story.
District Attorney Spokesman Steve Walker told me Clarke was convicted of all but two the 43 charges he was eventually tried on. The jury hung on one of the charges and found him not guilty on another count, Walker said.
Clarke was 26 when I spoke to him last year. If he serves the full 44 years and 8 months, he’ll be 72 when he gets out.