District Man Indicted on Enhanced Second-Degree Theft For Theft from CVS Retail Store in Northwest

WASHINGTON - On Wednesday, April 10, 2024, Melvin Dykes, 61, of Washington, D.C., was indicted by a grand jury in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia on one count of felony second-degree theft stemming from events occurring on February 23, 2024, U.S. Attorney Matthew M. Graves and Chief Pamela Smith, of the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) announced.

Dykes is to be arraigned on April 30, 2024, at a hearing before a Superior Court judge.

According to the government's evidence, on February 23, 2024, Dykes took merchandise without paying from the CVS store in Northwest, Washington, D.C. Dykes was located and arrested after investigation by the Metropolitan Police Department.

Dykes has two or more prior theft convictions, though not from the same occasion, and therefore is subject to enhanced penalties for his alleged theft, including a mandatory minimum sentence of one year in jail for each count of theft for which he is indicted.

Since September 1, 2023, including the aforementioned case, the United States Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia has indicted 39 cases involving a felony second-degree theft charge based on a defendant's two or more prior theft convictions, not from the same occasion.

This case was investigated by the Metropolitan Police Department and the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia. It is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Anne Cotter.

An indictment is merely a formal charge that a defendant has committed a violation of criminal laws and every defendant is presumed innocent until, and unless, proven guilty.