Portland Man Gets 6-Plus Years After Hitting One Plaid Pantry 39 Times

A Portland man who spent roughly a year raiding convenience stores across the city, at one point hitting a single Plaid Pantry location 39 separate times, was sentenced Wednesday to six years and eight months in prison. Timothy Ray Jones, 54, pleaded guilty to a dozen felony counts tied to a theft spree that prosecutors say cost stores about $50,000 in stolen merchandise, most of it cigarettes.

Jones targeted Plaid Pantry locations in North and Southeast Portland, according to KATU, committing more than 40 theft incidents that included roughly 30 separate hits on Plaid Pantry stores between March 14 and November 3. He pleaded guilty to two counts of first-degree theft, one count of first-degree aggravated theft, two counts of organized retail theft, seven counts of second-degree burglary, and one count of unauthorized use of a vehicle. Multnomah County Deputy District Attorney Theresa Turner said Jones went behind store counters and loaded bags with tobacco products, taking advantage of the same vulnerability that has pushed convenience chains statewide to rethink how they store high-value merchandise.

A Spree That Outpaced the System

Jones was arrested between many of the theft incidents, the station's report notes, yet the pattern continued for close to a year before the case was fully consolidated. That gap became a public flashpoint in December 2025, when Jones was released from Multnomah County jail after posting just a $25 bond deposit — 10 percent of a $250 bail amount — following his indictment on 58 counts of theft and burglary tied to nearly $38,000 in stolen cigarettes and cigars. Oregon law required prosecutors to file that indictment within five business days of his arrest, and court administrators were struggling to assign him a public defender amid Multnomah County's indigent defense crisis, according to KGW.

Plaid Pantry President and CEO Jonathan Polonsky publicly criticized that release at the time, telling KGW that Jones allegedly hit Plaid Pantry stores three more times within days of posting bond. It was a stark illustration of how a single defendant can slip through statutory cracks even while investigators are actively building a case against him.

Building the Case Store by Store

Once the case moved forward, Multnomah County prosecutors documented a string of high-dollar incidents in late 2025 and early 2026, including four separate visits between November 27, 2025, and January 25, 2026, where Jones stole more than $1,000 in merchandise each time, according to the Multnomah County District Attorney's Office. Under Oregon law, taking over $1,000 in goods during a single theft is enough to elevate the charge to first-degree theft, a Class C felony that can carry prison time.

District Attorney's Office Investigator Molly Pfaff worked alongside the Portland Police Bureau's North Precinct to comb through surveillance footage and identify Jones across dozens of separate incidents, per the DA's office. Multnomah County organized theft detectives also helped catch Jones, tying the case together into what became case 26CR16375. Prosecutors leaned on Oregon Revised Statute 164.098, which allows organized retail theft to be charged as a felony when stolen merchandise exceeds $5,000 in total value over any 180-day period, letting them aggregate Jones's many individual store visits into more serious charges.

Part of a Larger Pattern in Multnomah County

Turner said Jones will be held accountable in Multnomah County and stressed that property crime affects everyone, not just the businesses targeted. The case fits into a broader enforcement push: a May 2025 report from the Multnomah County Organized Retail Theft Task Force found that since its inception, the unit had prosecuted 123 defendants tied to 1,674 theft incidents representing $6.9 million in reported retail losses countywide.

Convenience stores have already adjusted their physical layouts in response to this kind of theft. Plaid Pantry began installing bank-style walk-up service windows in 2023 to keep customers from entering high-risk Portland stores overnight, a move aimed squarely at preventing the kind of rapid behind-the-counter tobacco grabs Jones was accused of. Portland Police have also run broader retail theft crackdowns, including a June 2025 multi-agency sweep across Gateway, Mall 205, and Downtown Portland that led to 36 arrests and the recovery of stolen vehicles and weapons, according to the City of Portland.

Jones's case echoes other recent Portland prosecutions, including an alleged $115K shoplifting rampage detailed in earlier Hoodline reporting. With his six-year, eight-month sentence now handed down, Jones's spree stands as one of the more extensive single-defendant retail theft cases Multnomah County prosecutors have built using the state's aggregation statute.