Man given 22 year suspended sentence

Furo
Furo

A former jewelry store employee previously charged with more than 25 various counts involving theft and fraud was sentenced Monday to a total of 22 years in prison, with the entire sentence suspended, on three felony counts.

Adam Lee Furo, 37, of Hot Springs, pleaded guilty June 15 in Garland County Circuit Court to one count of theft of property more than $5,000, punishable by up to 10 years in prison, and two counts of theft of property more than $1,000, punishable by up to six years, but sentencing was postponed until Monday.

After waiving his right to a jury trial, Furo appeared before Judge John Homer Wright, who sentenced him to the maximum on each count, all to run consecutively, for a total of 22 years in prison, but the sentence was suspended. Furo was also ordered to pay $80,432.72 in restitution to his victims, to be paid at a rate of $500 a month beginning in 120 days.

A former store manager of Stephens Jewelers, 2200 Central Ave., Furo was arrested last year on March 18, March 21, and again on June 18, on a total of 11 various felony and misdemeanor counts of theft of property and theft by deception involving customers from whom he stole money or property, primarily watches and jewelry.

Furo, who was terminated from Stephens on Feb. 7, 2014, was also previously charged with tampering with evidence in his case. On Aug. 14, 2014, Furo was arrested again and charged with 15 counts of financial identity fraud, where his own sister was the victim. He reportedly used her information 15 times to apply for credit card accounts between July 28 and Aug. 2, 2014.

Deputy Prosecutor Jason Johnson noted that in the case involving a family member the victim didn't want to pursue the charges further. He also noted that several of the other victims were compensated for their losses by Stephens' insurance company and likewise didn't want to continue with their cases.

"(Furo) paid compensation to some and the others got money from the insurance company. The vast majority of the victims didn't want to participate any further in the process," Johnson said.

"We felt it was in everyone's best interest to resolve the issue and make as many people whole as possible."

Johnson said Furo will basically be on unsupervised probation and, if he fails to satisfy the court-ordered restitution or if he violates any of the numerous conditions imposed under the suspended sentence, could face up to 22 years in prison.

"It's difficult to get someone to pay restitution if they're incarcerated," he said, noting that if he was sent to prison it would be up to the victims to pursue a civil judgment and they might never get any money.

Furo's attorney, Brent Miller, said Monday that Furo "got in a financial bind due to expenses related to a family member's medical condition that wasn't completely covered by insurance."

"Unfortunately, he chose to use other people's belongings to try to address the financial problems he encountered. He is very apologetic for the trouble he caused and will continue to make restitution to make certain parties whole," Miller said, noting that Stephens' insurance company compensated many of the victims.

"He is glad to put this ordeal behind him and seeks to move forward," Miller said.

According to numerous separate affidavits filed against him, on Sept. 13, 2013, the store's owner had filed a report with Hot Springs police advising a bag of white gold had been stolen from the store's safe sometime during the previous month and that only employees had access to the safe.

During the course of a subsequent investigation, it was determined that Furo had been obtaining customer's jewelry and watches from the safe, or by other means, and was then pawning or selling them for his own personal gain. He was immediately terminated when the allegations came to light.

As customers of Stephens heard about Furo's arrests, they would call or come in to check on watches and other jewelry they had left at the store to be serviced or refurbished or appraised and some of them discovered the items had been stolen and pawned or sold by Furo.

One victim filed a report April 28, 2014, alleging that in November 2013 he had brought in an antique gold medallion to be appraised. The item, described as the Imperial Order of the Double Dragon, had reportedly been presented to the victim's grandfather by the last Chinese emperor of the Quing Dynasty around the turn of the century.

It was later reportedly determined Furo had sold the item at the Tri-Lakes Coin Club Coin Show held Jan. 17-19 at the Hot Springs Convention Center for $2,200. Police tracked down the person Furo sold it to, but that person's wife had reportedly sold it while on a trip to China.

According to the affidavit regarding the tampering charge, detectives had learned while investigating Furo that he had been contacting some of the various victims in the case, so on March 13 a search warrant was obtained for Furo's cellphone.

At the time of his initial arrest March 18, 2014, detectives executed the warrant and confiscated Furo's phone. When he was asked for the access code to retrieve data from the phone, Furo refused so the phone was placed in evidence.

On April 2, detectives retrieved the phone and discovered the contents of the phone had been erased remotely using a local phone number. The number was later traced back to Furo.

Local on 06/30/2015

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