A Philadelphia man with a criminal history of 15 prior retail theft convictions has settled most of his 17 active retail theft cases following plea agreements with prosecutors in Bucks and Montgomery counties.
Joshua Burden, 43, has been sentenced to 2 to 4 years in county jail after pleading guilty to multiple counts of retail theft across Montgomery County, including incidents in Lower Gwynedd, Upper Dublin, and Lower Providence. Burden was also sentenced to 2½ to 6 years in county jail after pleading guilty to multiple counts of retail theft across Bucks County, including incidents in Falls and Middletown townships.
Court records show Burden is in custody at the Montgomery County Correctional Facilities, where he is serving both sentences concurrently. Burden also has four remain open cases in Delaware and Chester counties.
North Penn Now and Levittown Now become aware of the myriad sets of charges against Burden in September 2022, after he was arrested for stealing more than $340 worth of merchandise from the Wawa on Bethlehem Pike in Lower Gwynedd Township.
Police were called to the scene at 1:20 p.m. on Aug. 24, 2022, for a report of a retail theft. Store personnel told responding officers that a man — later identified as Burden — began to pay for his merchandise at the credit card terminal but instead exited the store with the merchandise without paying, according to charging documents.
Stolen items included three cartons of cigarettes and multiple food items, totaling $344.28, police said.
The criminal complaint noted Burden had 15 prior retail theft convictions across Pennsylvania. A further review of court records showed he has been arrested for retail theft an additional 16 times since June 2022 across Bucks, Montgomery, Chester, and Delaware counties — not including the Lower Gwynedd arrest.
The incidents were as follows:
None of the dockets showed an arrest being made on the date of the alleged offense, meaning charges were filed and he was arraigned after the fact. In each case, Burden was charged with at least one count of felony retail theft, with most dockets carrying additional counts of receiving stolen property and related offenses.
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