Felony Charges Dropped Against Homeless Man Who Was 43 Cents Short on Bottle of Mountain Dew

The Perry County district attorney’s office dismissed a felony charge that was filed against a homeless man after he paid $2 for a Mountain Dew drink that cost $2.29 plus tax.

Pennsylvania State police filed a felony charge against Joseph Sobolewski who claimed his arrest for retail theft after visiting a gas station was a misunderstanding.

The man said he saw a sign for 20-ounce Mountain Dew bottles: 2 for $3, so he took one and put $2.00 on the counter and left.

What Sobolewski didn’t know was a single bottle was $2.29, not $1.50. So he had shorted the store 29 cents plus tax, or 43 cents total.

The store subsequently called 911 and Pennsylvania State police Trooper Johnathan Sullivan charged him with a felony, and a Magisterial District Judge Jackie Leister locked him up for seven days on $50,000 cash-only bond.

Sobolewski was facing up to seven years behind bars because of Pennsylvania’s “three-strikes” law that mandates a third theft charge must be counted as a felony regardless of the amount.

Prosecutors quietly dropped the theft charge and reduced another charge, driving while suspended, from a misdemeanor to a summary offense, which is the same level as a traffic ticket after Sobolewski’s story went viral.