Man Charged with Theft of Services for Using Free Wifi at Coffee Shop Pleads Guilty to Trespass   8/18/2006 - 1,459 views, 1 Comment

Remember back in June when we told you about Alexander Erik Smith, the man charged with theft of services for repeatedly using the free wifi offered by the Brewed Awakenings coffee shop in Orchard, Washington? He would park his truck in the parking lot, and never go in to the shop, and never buy anything. He would just sit in his truck using the free wifi without paying a dime.

Well, Alexander Erik Smith has pleaded guilty, although not to theft of services, but rather to trespass. Specifically, Smith pleaded guilty to criminal trespass in the second-degree, which is a misdemeanor in Washington.

Now, it’s important to understand that Smith had been asked - and then warned - repeatedly over the course of three months to leave the parking lot. But he kept coming back. And that is undoubtedly why he copped to trespass.

Equally assuredly, there wasn’t a chance in Hades that they could have made a theft of services charge stick. Even the prosecutor admitted that “The law hasn’t caught up with the idea of stealing Internet service.”

But, no doubt it will.

And even if it doesn’t, clearly the law of karma has.

In the meantime, Alexander Erik Smith is on two years of probation, and has a restraining order against him requiring that he not go anywhere near the Brewed Awakenings coffee shop.