Brockton man with nearly 200 adult arraignments sentenced to prison for Easton break-ins

FALL RIVER — A Brockton man with nearly 200 adult arraignments was sentenced to 4 years in prison for breaking into several vehicles in Easton, then being found with an illegal gun when he crashed his car.

James Widener, 48, pleaded guilty last week in Fall River Superior Court to indictments charging him with two counts of breaking and entering into a vehicle, two counts of larceny under $1,200, one count of carrying an illegal firearm, one count of receiving stolen property under $1,200, one count of use of a motor vehicle without authority and one count of negligent operation of a motor vehicle.

The charges stem from an incident on April 22, 2022, when Widener was accused of breaking into multiple vehicles and stealing property from inside of them in Easton.

"The defendant drove away from the last of the breaks at a high rate of speed after the homeowner observed the break in," the Bristol County District Attorney's Office said in a written statement Wednesday. "The defendant drove in a negligent manner and crashed his vehicle at a nearby intersection in Easton. Inside the crashed vehicle, police found the firearm and items stolen during car breaks in the area, all of which were returned to the car owners."

Judge Renee Dupuis sentenced Widener to serve 4 years in prison, followed by 2 years of supervised probation.

"This defendant broke into several cars and then, in an effort not to be caught, drove away in a very dangerous manner," Bristol County District Attorney Thomas Quinn said in a statement. "His driving could have resulted in serious injury or death. On top of it, he was in possession of an illegal gun. He is a menace and needs to be kept off the street to protect the public."

Widener, who has had nearly 200 adult criminal arraignments dating back to 1994, had been sentenced in 2015 to 15 years in prison as a "career criminal" following convictions on gun charges, but he won an appeal to the state's Supreme Judicial Court in 2017 that argued he didn't meet the career criminal statute requirement. The case was remanded back to superior court for resentencing.

A resentencing happened years later on Jan. 27, 2022. Judge William F. Sullivan sentenced Widener to 10 years to 10 years and one day in prison, but he was deemed to have served that time already and was released.

Prosecutors say it was less than three months later when he committed the new crimes in Easton.

Enterprise senior reporter Cody Shepard can be reached by email at cshepard@enterprisenews.com.

This article originally appeared on The Enterprise: Brockton's James Widener sentenced to prison for Easton break-ins