COLUMBUS – A lot of colonists want to know what is next for Mr. Carson and Mrs. Hughes or whether Lady Mary will ever find true love again, but a 30-year-old East Side man has turned an obsession with Downton Abbey into a criminal career.
Though, Branden Joseph Deel probably doesn’t know Daisy from Lady Edith
“I can’t say whether Mr. Deel is binge-watching Downton Abbey or selling the box sets for drug money, but I at least give him credit for having better taste than most thieves,” said First Assistant Columbus City Prosecutor Bill Hedrick.
“We usually deal with people who steal items like powdered baby formula to cut drugs, not someone who’s trafficking episodes of Masterpiece Theatre,” Hedrick added.
Dubbed the “Downton Abbey Addict” by authorities, Deel, whose last known address was on Medina Avenue, has been designated “Fugitive of the Week” by Columbus City Attorney Richard C. Pfeiffer, Jr.
He is described as 6’1” tall, 155 lbs., with brown hair and green eyes.
A fresh warrant has been issued for Deel’s arrest after he served time in jail in August for stealing dozens of box sets of DVDs and Blue-Ray discs of the British drama worth thousands of dollars from several Franklin County stores.
He also was incarcerated earlier in the year after being convicted of similar crimes in Delaware County, Hedrick said.
According to court records, Hedrick says Deel began his Downton Abbey disc binge on Jan. 1, 2014 when he stole 12 DVD box sets worth a total retail value of $560.88 and has continued for nearly two years with his high-brow crime spree interrupted only by temporary periods of incarceration.
After serving time in jail in Delaware County in February and March of this year, Deel was released and found himself back in jail, this time in Franklin County, in August, said Hedrick.