Robbed NBA referee forgives the 'family friend' thief: NBA Update
NBA referee Mark Wunderlich recently forgave a man who broke into his house and stole some valuables last year.
It was last year in June, when the thief broke into his house in the Oakbourne section of Westtown. Mark and his wife were asleep at the time of the crime and when they woke up the next morning, they found their personal belongings
missing. The missing items were Ellen Wunderlichs’ purse that had $2,000 in it, a laptop, a GPS unit, and keys of Mark’s car (Lexus).
A report was filed in the police and upon investigation, police authorities got hold of a person named John Jardine. The assailant ironically turned out to be a family friend of the Wunderlichs.
In his confession, Jardine told that he along with accomplice Robert Siter broke into Wunderlich’s home. Jardine stole the Lexus while Siter stole the laptop and the purse with the help of the opener that Jardine gave to him.
Upon finding that the crime had been committed by one of his family friends, Mark Wunderlich was shattered. According to Assistant District Attorney Ann Marie Wheatcraft,
“Mr. Wunderlich was very offended that this happened”. He had “treated the defendant very well, taking him to All-Star games and introducing him to players” in his position as an NBA referee. Mark probably would have forgiven John,
if he had come up to him and said, ‘Listen, I did something really stupid,’
In spite of Jardine’s dim-witted act, in reply to Mr. Wunderlich numerous favours, the referee still requested to the tribunal to keep Jardine, who is a heroin addict, out of the state prison.
It was also told to the court that Siter, who was sentenced two and a half to five years in jail for the break-in, had a widespread history of crime as compared to Jardine and he might have influenced Jardine in doing so.
While proposing the plea that he made in agreement with Jardine’s lawyer, Robert J. Donatoni, Wheatcraft told Judge Sarcione that his client “was very specific. After all this, he still likes the defendant and that he did not think
he would make it in state prison.”
Jardine was declared guilty on last Thursday. He pleaded guilty of breaking and entering at Wunderlich’s home with another man, engineering illegal conspiracy and related charges. However as a result of plea agreement, Jardine
will only serve 11½ to 23 months in Chester County Prison.
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