Lynn house cleaner cleared in theft

SALEM – A Salem Superior Court jury found a Lynn house cleaner innocent of stealing approximately $40 from a woman near Chatham Street in 2010.Rashad Shepard, 22, last known address of 9 McKinley Terrace, Lynn, went on trial last week on a charge of unarmed robbery.Following a two-day trial, a 12-person jury found Shepard innocent of the single charge after deliberating for about four hours on Monday afternoon.Assistant District Attorney Jean M. Curran presented evidence that Shepard had stolen approximately $40 from a 40-year-old woman who told police she was walking back from a market near Chatham Street on the evening of Jan. 13, 2010 when a person she knew who had lived in the same building as her, approached her, put his arm around her throat and grabbed the cash from her jacket and fled. She later identified Shepard as the robber, police said.The victim could not be found by police to testify at the trial.But defense lawyer John V. Apruzzese was successful in arguing to the jurors that Shepard was not the person who robbed the woman and that he was misidentified. Shepard did not take the stand in his own defense.Although Shepard was cleared of the unarmed robbery charge, he was not set free. He still faces another charge for possession of a sawed-off shotgun stemming from his arrest July 22.His next scheduled court date on the case is June 3. Until then he remains held at the Middleton Jail.