A Jefferson City homeless man has been placed on five years supervised probation for pleading guilty to three counts for stealing items from stores in May. Authorities said he had been arrested 49 times for thefts before this.
Raymond Morris, 38, was also charged with one count of possession of drug paraphernalia.
As part of his probation, Morris must complete an alternative court program and serve 40 days in the Cole County Jail.
The stealing in May occurred at Family Dollar on Madison Street and at Schulte's on Southwest Boulevard.
Jefferson City Police said he initially was arrested for an unrelated prior theft at a business on East McCarty Street.
Nearly five hours later after that, Morris bonded out of jail.
Morris was later seen entering Family Dollar with his property bag from the jail.
He is seen on store video walking down the store's hair products aisle, and short time later products from that aisle were missing.
As he left the store, an alarm sounded indicating he hadn't purchased the items he had taken with him. A store employee attempted to follow him out, but Morris ran from the area east on East Ashley Street and was not caught.
A few days later, Morris stole nearly $100 worth of liquor at Schulte's and was caught after concealing the items in a backpack. When questioned, Morris admitted to the theft.
At the time of his arrest in this case, authorities said Morris had been arrested 49 times for robbery, stealing and related charged dating back to 2005, but he only had four convictions.