District Man Indicted on Enhanced Second-Degree Theft Following Theft from CVS in Northwest

            WASHINGTON – Peter Harshaw (aka Peter Allen), 64, of Washington, D.C., was indicted on February 21, 2024, by a grand jury in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia on one count of felony second-degree theft stemming from events occurring on January 19, 2024, U.S. Attorney Matthew M. Graves and Chief Pamela Smith, of the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) announced.

            Harshaw is to be arraigned on February 26, 2024, at a hearing before a Superior Court judge.

            According to the government’s evidence, on January 19, 2024, Harshaw took store merchandise without paying from the CVS store in Northwest Washington, D.C. Harshaw was quickly located and arrested by the Metropolitan Police Department.    

            Harshaw has two or more prior theft convictions, though not from the same occasion, and therefore is subject to enhanced penalties for his alleged theft, including a mandatory minimum sentence of one year in jail for each count of theft for which he is indicted.

            Since September 1, 2023, including the aforementioned case, the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia has indicted 27 cases involving a felony second-degree theft charge based on a defendant’s two or more prior theft convictions, not from the same occasion.

            This case was investigated by the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia. It is being prosecuted by Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Naveed Amalfard.

            An indictment is merely a formal charge that a defendant has committed a violation of criminal laws and every defendant is presumed innocent until, and unless, proven guilty.