KENNEWICK -- A career criminal is going to prison for nearly two years for damaging vending machines at 11 Benton County hotels and stealing the cash and coins.
Donald Edward Ladd Jr., 46, pleaded guilty to second-degree theft and second-degree malicious mischief. A third charge for second-degree burglary was dismissed.
According to court documents, Ladd and his co-defendant, Craig Steven Ellingson, were captured on security video in June 2010 entering the vending machine room at the Super 8 Motel on Columbia Center Boulevard in Kennewick.
The room has a sign posted saying the machines are for guests only, and Ladd and Ellingson were not registered guests, documents said.
The men broke into the vending machines, causing damage to them. Then they collected what was inside, removing the money.
Prosecutors said the duo did this at 11 hotels throughout the county. The money taken totaled $2,120, while damage to the machines came out to $2,382, court documents said.
Ladd owes restitution of $4,023 to Central Vending Co. and $8,631 to Coca Cola, both in Pasco.
Kennewick police investigating the Super 8 incident ultimately matched the methods used to similar thefts in the area and west to Yakima.
Ladd and Ellingson also were spotted making cash transactions at Kennewick businesses using $1 bills they pulled from a large wad of money.
They were arrested in July 2010 in Fife. Ladd was identified as a suspect in the thefts, and Ellingson matched the description of the second thief.
Ellingson pleaded guilty to second-degree burglary in October 2010. He was ordered to serve two years and nine months in prison, which he is doing at Coyote Ridge Corrections Center in Connell, court and corrections records show.
Ladd was sentenced to one year and 10 months in prison.
Ladd's criminal history dates to 1984, with convictions in Pierce, King, Lincoln, Thurston and Chelan counties, as well as in Las Vegas.
His crimes include burglary, theft, malicious mischief, drug possession, attempted burglary, possession of stolen property, forgery and taking a vehicle.
