Court Report: Two men sentenced for Walmart thefts

An Athens man was sentenced to a diversion program and a $1,000 fine after being charged with petty theft and tampering with evidence.Ronald Hogue plead guilty after accepting a plea deal significantly lowering his sentence which could have been a maximum of 24-months in jail.Hogue was taken into custody after officers found him in possession of two pressure washers from Walmart, totaling $520 worth of merchandise. The tampering with evidence was issued after the arresting officer found a bar code that had been removed from one of the power washers.Another Athens man plead no contest this week to one count of persistent disorderly conduct.Mahmoud Naim Mahmoud took a plea deal after being charged with grand theft. Mahmoud was accused of directing a fellow employee to steal four credit card reading machines totaling $8,844.Mahmoud assisted another local man named Hisham M. Jundi — charged with grand theft — in stealing $27,029 worth of equipment from Mahmoud’s employer.Jundi was able to steal a number of things including two Ruby System Sapphire register consoles with two credit card readers, two printers, two register drawers and support equipment, in addition to the four credit card reading machines he had taken.Jundi was in court Wednesday for a hearing on merits, in order to resolve technical issues before this case can continue.