Former SpookShop employee convicted of theft has money he owes shop owners reduced
A former employee who was convicted of stealing thousands of dollars worth of costumes from a seasonal Halloween store will have the amount of money he owes the store owners substantially reduced.
Ronald J. Bally, 62, of Bellingham, was convicted of second-degree burglary and first-degree theft Aug. 28, 2019 in Whatcom County Superior Court. Bally was originally charged with three counts of second-degree burglary, one count of first-degree trafficking in stolen property and one count of first-degree possession of stolen property. His charges were reduced as part of a plea deal, court records show.
Bally was sentenced to eight months in jail in late August 2019 and was allowed to serve his time on jail alternatives, according to court records.
Bally had been arrested in April 2018 for stealing costumes from the SpookShop, where he had been an employee from 2004 to 2016, and selling them online. Bally’s conviction stems from an incident in late November 2017 where he entered the SpookShop’s main warehouse using a key he had kept and stole merchandise from the store, records show.
Bally was confronted by police and admitted he had entered the business a handful of times after he quit with the key he had kept and stole property. He returned more than 96 boxes that held multiple costumes each, records state.
On April 3, 2020, after a contested hearing, a Whatcom County Superior Court judge ordered Bally to pay the SpookShop’s owners $204,250.00 in restitution for the items he stole and sold from the costume shop. Bally appealed the restitution decision later that month.
The Washington State Court of Appeals Division 1 ruled in late April that the Whatcom court overstepped its bounds by setting Bally’s restitution that high. The appeals court found that the Whatcom court exceeded its authority because it ordered restitution for crimes Bally was not convicted of, according to appellate court records.
During the contested restitution hearing, the SpookShop’s owners testified that 75% of Bally’s online business sales between April 2016 and February 2018 involved merchandise he had stolen from the store, which totaled nearly $72,000, appellate court records state.
But Bally testified during the hearing that he had returned $30,000 worth of stolen merchandise to the shop owners, and that “he owed ‘(no) more than ($)20,000’ beyond that,” records state.
The Whatcom court determined that the items Bally returned were only worth $15,000 and sided with the shop owners by setting restitution that was roughly 75% of Bally’s online sales between 2012 to 2017. The final amount was adjusted for shipping costs and the returned items, records show.
In his appeal, Bally argued that the Whatcom court could only set restitution for items stolen on November 19, 2017 and that it had no authority to set restitution on charges that were dismissed as part of his plea agreement, the appellate records show.
The appeals court agreed with Bally, determining that damages supporting restitution have to be causally connected to the crime charged. Restitution beyond the scope of the crime charged is only awardable when the person charged enters into an agreement saying they will pay restitution on uncharged crimes as part of a plea bargain, the court records state.
Because Bally did not enter into such an agreement, the appellate court found he can’t be required to pay restitution on uncharged crimes. The appellate decision is expected to substantially reduce the amount of Bally’s restitution set by the Whatcom court.
The appeals court vacated the restitution order and the case has been sent back to Whatcom County Superior Court for a new restitution hearing. A hearing date has not yet been set.
This story was originally published May 17, 2021 at 5:00 AM with the headline "Former SpookShop employee convicted of theft has money he owes shop owners reduced."
