‘Well Dressed Thief’ gets two years in Putnam County case

Shane Baker

A 27-year-old former Greencastle man known as “the Well Dressed Thief” for his dapper attire and suave appearance will be suited for prison following a sentencing hearing Thursday in Putnam Circuit Court.

Shane Wesley Baker, who in July pleaded guilty to one count of fraud, a Level 6 felony, in a plea agreement with the Putnam County Prosecutor’s Office, was sentenced by Judge Matthew Headley to two years in the Indiana Department of Correction.

In addition to Putnam County, Baker is facing charges in Morgan, Hancock, Hamilton and Marion counties. Reportedly he was recently sentenced to 15 years in prison in a Marion County case.

“I’m in five different jails about every other day,” he offered in response to a question from Judge Headley at a July 21 hearing.

In fact, Baker was due to be sentenced Sept. 8 in Putnam Circuit Court but was instead in another courtroom in another county at that time.

“They’re all the same acts,” Baker admitted previously, listing fraud, theft and forgery as the three crimes in which he typically has been involved.

Baker earned his “Well Dressed Thief” nickname through the clever method he used to gain access to places like businesses, offices, schools and churches.

Most often dressed in a business suit, dress shirt and tie, Baker would stroll into such places, looking for all the world as if he belonged there. He even took measures to cover a tattoo on the right side of his neck with a large band-aid.

Once he comfortably inside his target location, Baker would steal from purses or wallets or desk drawers of the unsuspecting people at work there.

Last spring, Baker and an alleged female accomplice, Monique Martin, 33, Indianapolis, earned notoriety when videos detailing his exploits popped up on YouTube and spawned a CrimeStoppers segment on WTHR. The latter helped get Baker arrested for the Greencastle incident he has admitted committing.

Baker has called the “Well Dressed Thief” nickname “a terrible label I’ll have to wear forever.”

To pay for heroin habit, he admittedly stole cash, checks and credit cards, using the stolen credit cards to purchase prepaid credit cards to buy the heroin in a cycle that would continue until the theft was uncovered and the real owner would stop use of the stolen cards.

In the incident that occurred May 12 at the DePauw University Julian Science Center, Baker stole credit cards belonging to a professor, and within 11 minutes of the theft had used them at the two gas stations on the city’s East Side. Authorities believe a similar incident may have occurred at the DePauw Admissions Office as well.

The three stolen cards were allegedly used for purchases of $25.62 in gasoline, three instances of $411.90 purchases (two $200 prepaid cards and fees), $205.95 and $207.87.

Baker, who was already under arrest in Bloomington when the local investigation fingered him as the suspect, was originally charged with two counts of fraud (Level 6 felonies carrying sentence ranges of 6-30 months) for using credit cards that did not belong to him and one count of theft (a Class A misdemeanor) for stealing the professor’s wallet containing the cards and a reported $100 cash.

At the July 21 hearing, he pleaded guilty to one count of fraud with the two remaining counts dismissed in the plea agreement.