- A Provo man was sentenced to one year jail and three years of probation for driving away after stealing a remote-control car and injuring an employee.
- The store employee went out to talk to him, and ended up with broken bones and road rash after the man continued to drive.
PROVO — A man will spend one year in jail after severely injuring an employee while driving away from Mad Man's Hobby Store in Lehi, where he admitted to taking a valuable remote-control car kit.
Gavin Drake Huss, 22, pleaded guilty on March 3 to failure to remain at an accident involving serious injury, a third-degree felony; retail theft, a class A misdemeanor; and driving on a suspended license, a class C misdemeanor.
Fourth District Judge Shawn Howell on Tuesday sentenced Huss to a term of zero to five years in prison for failing to remain at the scene, but suspended the term and ordered him to serve one year in jail and three years of probation. Separate jail terms of one year for retail theft and 90 days for driving on a suspended license were also suspended.
He was not in custody ahead of sentencing but was ordered to be taken into custody immediately afterward. He did get credit for the 57 days he had previously spent in jail.
Surveillance video from A Mad Man's Hobby Store shows Riley Deborah Shelman holding the door open while Huss grabs a $1,000 remote-control-car kit and walks out without paying. A store employee, Mark Wilson, ran outside after his manager pointed out what was happening.
"I was just going to walk around the truck," Willson told KSL previously. "I was going to walk up nice and say, 'Hey, what's going on? Why did you take that?' I just wanted to talk to him."
Then the truck started moving backward. Wilson said he hopped onto the truck to avoid being between it and his car. He said he remembers flying down the street, hanging onto the truck and then sliding off. He tried to stand up, but as he did, the driver accelerated, running over both of his legs.
Willson said the ordeal has been devastating. He broke multiple bones in his legs, arm and face and suffered from road rash.
"I just think they need to understand that it is very silly that you can take and not worry about somebody dying or being killed," he said.
Huss later turned himself in to police with the stolen Traxxas RC car. He told police he had suddenly decided to steal the car while he was in the store to purchase a part.
He pleaded guilty as charged, but prosecutors agreed to a plea deal that would reduce the severity of his charges after he completes his sentence.
Shelman, 21, of Heber City, also pleaded guilty to failure to remain at an accident involving serious injury, a third-degree felony, and retail theft, a class A misdemeanor. She was sentenced on March 24 to zero to five years in prison and one year in jail, but those terms were suspended and she was instead ordered to serve 210 days in jail, with credit for 35 days already served, and three years of probation.
