A 54-year-old Minot business owner will serve 179 days in jail for stealing a fifth-wheel trailer from Capital RV in Minot on Aug. 28, 2013.

Kenneth Earl Karlson changed his plea to guilty to the Class A felony theft of property charge on Monday in North Central District Court.

He was sentenced to five years in jail, with all but the 179 days suspended, and will be allowed to serve the time at the Ward County Jail and be granted immediate work release. Karlson also has to pay back $27,565 in restitution to Capital RV and the insurance company and $1,025 in court fines and fees. He will be on supervised probation for five years.

Based on statements made in court Monday, Karlson and two unidentified men stole the fifth-wheel from the RV business after it had closed. Karlson had initially been under the impression that the two other men had bought the fifth-wheel, but then realized that couldn’t be the case because the RV business was closed. He helped the two other men steal the trailer even though he knew they didn’t own it.

The following year, a neighbor who was being investigated by Williston police told law enforcement that he suspected Karlson stole the trailer. Karlson, who came to North Dakota from Massachusetts in 2012 to look for work, told police that he and the two other men had shared the fifth-wheel. Karlson stayed in the fifth-wheel some of the time and lived in his car the rest of the time. He was working at the time. Karlson has not identified the men who helped him steal the trailer because the state didn’t offer a favorable plea deal, said his defense attorney, Erich Grant.

Ward County Assistant State’s Attorney William O’Driscoll had recommended that Karlson be sentenced to 10 years in prison and serve three. That was also the terms of the plea deal that the State’s Attorney’s Office offered to Karlson, so Grant said he recommended against Karlson identifying his two accomplices.

“He essentially stole a house and got a year’s rent free,” O’Driscoll told North Central District Judge Richard Hagar. O’Driscoll said it was a crime of greed and there is no excuse for what Karlson did.

Grant said the state’s sentencing recommendation was unreasonable, particularly since people who embezzled money from local nonprofits in recent years served about six months in jail. Karlson has no significant prior criminal record.

Grant said that Karlson, who operates Bakken Truck and Equipment, would be able to work to make restitution if he was allowed work release and to serve his time at the Ward County Jail. Karlson also sends child support for his 17-year-old twins who live in Boston.

“Mr. Karlson won’t be making much money if he is in Bismarck stamping license plates,” Grant told the judge.

The charge was a Class A felony only because the list price of the fifth-wheel trailer was $61,000. However, the insurance company was able to sell the recovered fifth-wheel at a lower price, so Karlson will have to pay a lower amount in restitution.

“If (the value of the stolen property is) over $50,000, that pumps it up (to an A felony),” Hagar told Karlson.

Hagar said he thought the 10-year sentencing recommendation was too harsh and that Karlson’s lack of a criminal record is a point in his favor. He said people sometimes do stupid things because of economic stress. “I don’t think this crime will reoccur,” said Hagar.

Karlson, who now lives in an apartment with his girlfriend, was ordered to report to the jail Friday to begin serving his sentence.