Woman jailed after 7th retail fraud

Published 9:07 am Tuesday, January 27, 2015

A Niles woman’s long history of fraudulent behavior finally caught up to her.

Cindy Ann Henning was in Berrien County Trial Court Monday facing possible jail time after she was caught stealing items from the Niles Wal-Mart in August of 2014.

Cindy Henning

Cindy Henning

Guidelines called for a sentence anywhere between zero and nine months, but Judge Dennis Wiley said the 32-year-old deserved far more than that because of her past criminal record.

Henning, according to the judge, has been convicted of retail fraud seven times, embezzlement twice, burglary once and larceny in a building once.

“You have stretched us of all of our resources and you still continue to steal,” said Wiley before sentencing Henning to 13 months in the Michigan Department of Corrections on one count of attempted retail fraud in the first degree.

Wiley also lamented the number of people who steal from Wal-Mart, estimating that he gets between six and 12 of those types of cases a week.

“I don’t know when Wal-Mart says we’ve had enough and closes shop,” he said.

Assistant Prosecutor Amy Byrd said Henning has agreed to testify against her co-defendant in the case. That person remains at large.

Also Monday, Latoya Renee Jackson, 37, of Niles, was sentenced to six years in prison on one count of criminal sexual conduct — assault with intent to commit sexual penetration.

Wiley said Jackson, while working as a prostitute, brought the victim — a 14-year-old girl — to one of her clients in Niles. At that time, Jackson had the victim perform a sexual act on her. This happened between the dates of October 2012 and January 2013, according to court documents.

Jackson is currently serving time in prison on a home invasion charge for which she will get out no sooner than March 2018.