North Attleboro man with lengthy criminal history sentenced to prison in laptop thefts

A 60-year-old North Attleboro man who broke into multiple businesses was sentenced to prison last week, Bristol County District Attorney Thomas M. Quinn III announced.

Reginald Shepard broke into businesses at the Cabot Business Park in Mansfield and committed a string of laptop thefts in late 2018.

Shepard pleaded guilty in Fall River Superior Court to indictments charging him with five counts of breaking and entering during the nighttime to commit a felony and five counts of larceny over $1,200 and was sentenced last week to serve six to eight years in state prison.

Shepard committed the break ins and robberies during a three-month stretch between August 31, 2018, and December 3, 2018. In all, the defendant stole 11 laptops and accessories valued at more than $20,000 from five sperate businesses in the Mansfield business park.

A break in the case came on December 14, 2018, when Shepard was stopped for a traffic violation on West Street in the industrial park by Mansfield Police. The defendant is a career criminal with arrests and convictions for similar offenses throughout eastern Massachusetts.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney William Flynn and the state prison sentence was imposed by Judge William White.

“The defendant has a lengthy history of committing similar crimes throughout the region. He needs to be kept off the street to protect the public,” District Attorney Quinn said.