BRENTWOOD - A Concord man who wheeled flat-screen televisions out of Walmart stores in Salem and Epping before being arrested in May was sentenced to 2½ to 5 years in state prison.

Richard Kuchinsky, 42, pleaded guilty to felony theft and criminal trespass charges on Nov. 21 in Rockingham County Superior Court as part of a plea deal with county prosecutors.

Kuchinsky decided to plead guilty just days before his trial was scheduled to begin in superior court on charges that could have sent him to prison for 7½ to 15 years.

Prosecutors say Kuchinsky went on a two-week stint of stealing electronics, first taking computers and a television from the Walmart store in Epping between April 23 and 26.

A week later, he entered the Walmart in Salem but was caught wheeling a second 32-inch flat-screen TV out the front door without paying for it, police said.

Kuchinsky had already gotten one television outside by putting it in a carriage and pushing it out the front door as if he had paid for it, police said.

The TVs were worth $298 each.

Loss prevention workers in Salem figured out by reviewing store surveillance footage that Kuchinsky had stolen the TVs. Video recordings showed him loading the merchandise into the carriage then leaving the store.

Footage showed Kuchinsky exited the building with the first television, and passed it off to an unidentified male on the sidewalk before going back in for a second one, according to police.

The unidentified man was never caught.

Loss prevention workers confronted Kuchinsky on the sidewalk outside the store. He told police that he did not have a receipt but planned on returning the two televisions, police said.

Kuchinsky was then escorted back into the store, police said. Store workers scanned the merchandise into the inventory system and determined that the televisions had never been sold and belonged to the store, according to police. Loss prevention workers then called Salem police.

Kuchinsky has remained jailed since his arrest on May 3.

jkimble@newstote.com