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May 8, 2009

GPS tracks thief

By Carl Keith Greene / Staff Writer

An East Bernstadt man is in jail as the result of a GPS tracking device that had been keeping him out of the lockup.

Jason Jackson, 30, pleaded guilty in Knox District Court Tuesday to stealing copper wire and damaging the site from which he stole it.

All the while, he was being tracked in his illegal activity because of the global positional system (GPS) transmitter strapped to his ankle.

The transmitter was intended to keep him in home incarceration following an earlier court finding.

According to Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney Michael Pratt, on Nov. 19, Jackson allegedly broke into an asphalt plant in Gray, stole copper wire and caused damages all to the tune of about $18,000.

The next day, he broke into another asphalt plant.

All that time the GPS was revealing his location and movements to its monitoring station, Pratt said. It was that information which led to Jackson’s arrest and conviction.

In hearings prior to the guilty plea, Pratt said, Jackson argued that GPS monitoring is not scientifically accepted and therefore not admissible as evidence.

Two designers of the system testified before Judge John Knox Mills and Mills ruled that the GPS is “accepted by the scientific community and admissible at trial,” Pratt said.

Apparently, based on research by the Commonwealth’s Attorney’s office, this is the first time in a criminal trial in Kentucky in which GPS information has been ruled as admissible, Pratt said.

Jackson pleaded guilty to theft by unlawful taking of property valued at $300 or more and first-degree criminal mischief.

The commonwealth has recommended a two-and-a-half year sentence and $18,000 restitution. Sentencing is set for Aug. 7.

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