Grand Jury Gets Theft Case Involving St. Louis FF

Oct. 16—The case of a St. Louis firefighter accused of stealing a wallet from a crash survivor will go before a St. Louis County grand jury on Thursday.

Arnold S. Britt, 40, of Ballwin, was charged May 25 with receiving stolen property, a Class D felony, and fraudulent use of a credit card, a Class A misdemeanor. Conviction on the felony is punishable by a sentence of one to four years in prison.

The charges against Britt stem from a crash on Feb. 26 in which four people in an SUV were killed in a hit-and-run collision at South Grand Boulevard and Forest Park Avenue.

Chris King, a spokesman for St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney Wesley Bell, said the prosecutor's warrant office sent the case to the grand jury because "there are five endorsed witnesses, and we routinely send cases to the grand jury with more than three witnesses," he said.

William Goldstein, Britt's attorney, could not be reached for comment.

A survivor of the crash, Seven Robinson-Laney, 18, of St. Louis, alleged shortly after the crash that his monogrammed wallet — credit card, gift cards and more than $600 in cash — had been stolen from the scene.

St. Louis police said Britt, who is assigned to a fire station that responded to the accident, can be seen on a body-camera video putting the wallet into his jacket.

During questioning by city police detectives, Britt said that he used Robinson-Laney's debit card three times by accident.

St. Louis fire officials have said Britt will remain on leave until the criminal case has been resolved.

Britt has been a city firefighter since December 2013. He also is a former star athlete at Vashon High School who went on to play football at the University of Missouri from 2002-2004.

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