KLUTH

PROVIDENCE — The figurative revolving door in the criminal justice system may be about to stop spinning for former lobster boat skipper John P. Kluth Jr.

Kluth, who has been convicted of passing bad checks and drug and motor vehicle offenses as well as his specialty, running con games, has spent relatively little time behind bars given the number of his convictions in Rhode Island, Massachusetts and Connecticut.

For at least 18 years, according to the police and court records, Kluth has worked a so-called “lobster scam” in which he cajoles money from people by tricking them into believing that he has a broken-down truck with a perishable cargo of lobsters and that he needs a loan to make repairs. He gets money from his marks but does not repay them unless he is caught.

At the request of Attorney General Patrick C. Lynch, Superior Court Judge Netti C. Vogel yesterday declared Kluth a habitual criminal, preparatory to sentencing him on 30 counts of obtaining money under false pretenses, mostly with the lobster scam.

Loosely speaking, Lynch spokesman Michael J. Healey has said, the habitual-criminal statute is Rhode Island’s version of “three strikes and you’re out.”

The judge’s finding means two things under the statute: She is required to add prison time to whatever sentence she imposes on Kluth and she is required to set a minimum amount of time that he must serve before he is eligible for release on parole.

Applying the habitual-criminal statute apparently is the only time a judge officially becomes involved in parole when passing sentence.

A sentencing hearing is scheduled for tomorrow, and Kluth faces the likelihood of having to spend multiple years in prison.

“It is quite clear … that the defendant … is indeed a habitual criminal,” the judge said yesterday from the bench in a third-floor courtroom in the Licht Judicial Complex downtown.

Kluth has been convicted of at least 54 crimes in the three states, not counting the 30 recent convictions, but he has served a total of only about three years at the Adult Correctional Institutions.

The list of 54 does not include other times when he pleaded no contest to charges and received probation — a combined plea and disposition that in most circumstances is not considered a criminal conviction under Rhode Island law.

In addition to having been incarcerated at the ACI, Kluth also has done prison time in Massachusetts.

In a sentencing package prepared for presentation to the judge, prosecutor Stephen A. Regine included letters from police departments that have prosecuted Kluth.

One was signed by Smithfield Police Chief William A. McGarry, who said relatives and former friends of Kluth, as well as Kluth’s victims and members of law enforcement know that Kluth has been “perfecting his con” for many years and that his propensity to scam others is a detriment to the community.

Michael G. McKenna, police chief in Newport, where Kluth grew up and lived for many years, wrote that Kluth has “a long history of taking advantage of law-abiding citizens” who fell prey to his scams.

Kluth, 48, attired in a gray suit jacket over a white T-shirt, tan trousers and white sneakers, spoke yesterday only to confirm his identity for the court record. Mark Smith, his court-appointed lawyer, declined comment after the brief proceeding.

Regine invoked only six convictions, all felonies, in persuading Vogel that Kluth is a habitual criminal. For someone to be deemed a habitual criminal, the statute requires only that the state show that the person has been convicted of at least two felonies in separate incidents and has been sentenced both times to a term of prison even if that term was suspended. Additionally, the new crime to which the statute is being applied must be punishable by a prison term of at least one year.

After resolution of the 30 counts that are the subject of tomorrow’s sentencing hearing, Kluth still faces charges in two more Rhode Island cases as well as lobster scam cases in Massachusetts and Connecticut. He remains in custody at the ACI.

gsmith@projo.com