It's not just turkeys that get pardoned by the President this time of year. A Park Ridge man and four others learned they also got a pass by President Barack Obama this week.
Martin Kaprelian, 72, got the call Monday and told the Chicago Tribune the pardon was "a surprise to me."
Kaprelian was sentenced to nine years in prison and five years of probation after he was convicted in 1984 of transporting $70,000 of stolen jewelry.
A federal appellate court opinion denying his appeal reads that he and his girlfriend were indicted after they stole two cases of jewelry from a jewelry company employee's car while the man paid for gas in Minnesota. Police later found the cases at Kaprelian's apartment in northwest suburban Harwood Heights.
The man told the paper he "really don't have much to say." "This is a private matter."
