Love During Lockup inmate Christopher Chipps is currently serving a 32-year prison sentence for burglary and identity theft. A 32-year sentence is quite substantial — even for inmates featured on the various Love After Lockup shows.
Making Chris’s conviction even more remarkable is the fact that he is 1/4 Native American and reportedly receives between $10,000 and $12,000 a month from the tribe he belongs to, which owns a casino in Minnesota.
“Why, if he has money, did he steal?” Jade’s friend Carrie asks her on the show.
“So, he was a huge, like, drug addict,” Jade explains. “He was into meth. And then that’s when he decided to break into someone’s house.”
Jade then mentions the length of Chris’s sentence, and her disapproval of the severity of it. “I feel like his sentence was a little harsh, but he got 32 years,” she says.
Jade’s friends are stunned by the lengthy sentence, but Jade has even more shocking details in store for them. “He is also a multiple offender. Like, he’s been in prison a few times…like seven times before this.”
Chris Chipps criminal history
The Argus Leader published an article about Chris in 2016, after he donated $5,000 to the mother of a 5-year-old girl suffering from Kawasaki disease, which causes inflammation in the walls of arteries that supply blood to the heart.
The article is very thorough, and provides a lot of background information on Chris — including his propensity for breaking the law.
According to his mother, Tracy Urich, Chris was an only child with an absentee father. “Diagnosed with anxiety and borderline personality disorder, Chipps got involved with drugs and was quick to lash out, moving in and out of juvenile detention,” the article reveals.
‘There were lots of highs and lows,’ says his mother, Tracy Urich, who moved to South Dakota when her son was 18 and lives in Chamberlain. ‘I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been in front of a judge, pleading with them to help my son.’
Chipps compiled a lengthy rap sheet of crimes involving burglary, drug possession and impaired driving. He admits to methamphetamine use, which led to stealing to feed that addiction.
When Chris was given the lengthy sentence that he is currently serving, he had previously been convicted of two felonies for grand theft and possession of a controlled substance. That qualified him as a habitual offender and contributed to the hefty prison sentence.
Chris Chipps stole prescription drugs from a cancer patient
Jade Chipps mentions on the show that Chris’s burglary conviction was after “he decided to break into someone’s house.” Jade didn’t mention any specifics about the burglary, including the fact that Chris stole experimental cancer medication belonging to a woman diagnosed with leukemia.
Chris broke into the Whitewood, South Dakota home of a husband and wife shortly after 7:30PM on April 25, 2014. The couple was watching television in their bedroom, and it was roughly 8PM when the husband went into the dining room to get his wife’s medication.
The husband then discovered that his wife’s purse, their cell phones, a bottle of Lorazepam, and his wife’s experimental cancer medications were missing. “Further investigation revealed the basement lights were on, the basement door was open, several of David’s tools and a work jacket were missing, and the dome light in his vehicle was on,” according to court documents from the case.
Soon after the theft, charges began appearing on the couple’s credit cards from a nearby convenience store and WalMart. Surveillance video from the WalMart and the convenience store showed a man matching Chris’s description making the purchases, including a tattoo.
In addition, Chri pawned a ring and a pendant that the female victim identified as hers. That transaction was also caught on video.
Police visited Chris’s girlfriend’s home and saw a vehicle that matched a vehicle observed in the convenience store and WalMart surveillance footage, including a partial license plate.
Chipps was present in the home, and Detective Little recognized him as the individual shown in the recordings from Walmart, Sonset, and First National Pawn. Chipps had a tattoo in the same spot as the individual shown in the recordings. Meade County sheriff’s deputies arrested Chipps, and Detective Little recovered Charlotte’s cell phone from the residence.
Chris was arrested and indicted on one count of second-degree burglary, one count of grand theft (more than $2,500 but less than $5,000), one count of obtaining possession of a controlled substance by theft, and four counts of identity theft.
One week prior to burglarizing the home, Chris interviewed for a job. Shortly after the interview, the man Chris interviewed with noticed that the keys to his vehicle were missing. The man reported his vehicle stolen a couple months later, and one day after the report was filed, police located the vehicle with Chris in the driver’s seat. He had recently been released on bond pending trial for the burglary charge.
Chris was arrested and charged with grand theft and possession of marijuana.
Chris Chips found mentally ill
Prior to Chris Chipps’ trial for burglary and identity theft, “his attorney at the time arranged for him to undergo a forensic psychological evaluation for the purpose of determining whether Chipps fit the statutory definition of ‘mentally ill’ at the time of the alleged crimes,” court documents state.
The evaluation, conducted by Dewey J. Ertz, Ed. D., stated:
It is my opinion that [Chipps] meets the current definition of mental illness described in South Dakota law. He has substantial psychiatric disorders which involve thought, mood, and behavior. These disorders were present during the commission of the alleged crimes noted above and frequently impair [his] judgment. His impairments did not prevent him from knowing the wrongfulness of his acts and they are presented in various ways and various settings beyond repeated criminal behavior or antisocial conduct. This opinion is stated within a reasonable degree of psychological certainty.
Dr. Ertz recommended that “[l]ong-term supervision and constraints on [Chipps’s] activities represent the most effective way of assisting [Chipps] to reduce the potential to be harmful to himself and to protect others from [Chipps] becoming harmful to them .”
Chris Chipps underwent another forensic psychiatric evaluation by Stephen Manlove, M.D. Dr. Manlove for his grand theft case in another county involving the stolen vehicle. “It is my opinion with reasonable medical certainty that [Chipps] was mentally ill at the time of the crimes he has been convicted of,” Dr. Manlove stated in his report.
Chris Chipps’ sentences
From court documents:
On September 18, 2014, after a two-day trial, a jury convicted Chipps of second-degree burglary and all four counts of identity theft. Chipps did not present a mental-illness defense. Chipps admitted to prior convictions for grand theft in 2002 (Class 4 felony) and possession of a controlled substance in 2005 (Class 4 felony).
The Lawrence County court sentenced Chipps to 20 years imprisonment for the burglary conviction and 5 years for each identity-theft conviction. Although each identity-theft sentence runs concurrently with the others, they run consecutively with the burglary sentence.
The grand theft case was after the burglary case. From court documents:
Chipps pleaded guilty but mentally ill on January 29, 2015, to the grand theft charged in the Meade County indictment. Under a plea agreement, the State dismissed the remaining charges as well as the habitual-criminal information. Chipps was sentenced to eight years imprisonment, with two years suspended, and fined $10,000. This sentence runs consecutively with the Lawrence County sentences.
In summary, Chris received 20 years for burglary, 5 years for each of the 4 counts of identity theft (to be served concurrently with each other), and 8 years (with 2 years suspended) for grand theft. 20 plus 5 plus 6 equals 31.
Jade says on the show that she thinks Chris’s sentence was “a little harsh,” but it could have easily been longer if the identity theft sentences had been concurrent or if Meade County had not elected to dismiss the habitual-criminal information.
Chris appealed his convictions and his sentences, but the South Dakota Supreme Court affirmed the convictions and the sentences. “The sentences Chipps received do not appear to be grossly disproportionate to the crimes he committed; therefore, the sentences are not cruel and unusual,” the decision reads.
Here’s another poignant excerpt from the Supreme Court’s decision:
Chipps has been previously convicted of committing the felonies of grand theft and possession of a controlled substance. Thus, not only has Chipps demonstrated a tendency to commit felonies, he has demonstrated a particular penchant for the same type of crimes charged here—taking for himself that which belongs to another.
Jade tells her concerned friends on the show about her felonious husband Chris: “I’m gonna chance him. I can fix him.” To see if Jade is able to do that, be sure to keep tuning in for new episodes of Love During Lockup airing Friday nights at 9/8c on WE tv!
Asa Hawks is a writer and editor for Starcasm. You can contact Asa via Twitter, Facebook, or email at starcasmtips(at)yahoo.com
