District Man Indicted on Enhanced Second-Degree Theft for Theft from Nordstrom Rack Retail Store in Northwest

            WASHINGTON – Karim Clayton, 46, of Washington, D.C., was indicted 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 April 26, 2024, announced U.S. Attorney Matthew M. Graves and Chief Pamela Smith, of the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD).

            Clayton was indicted on May 22, 2024, and will be arraigned on May 29, 2024, at a hearing before a Superior Court judge.

            According to the government’s evidence, on April 26, 2024, Clayton took merchandise without paying from the Nordstrom Rack store located in Northwest, Washington, D.C. Clayton was located and arrested after investigation by the Metropolitan Police Department.  

            Clayton 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 45 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 Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph Granzotto.

            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.