One of Portland’s most active burglars is headed back to prison after racking up his 43rd burglary conviction. Although prosecutors don’t keep lists ranking the city’s most prolific prowlers, they say Melvin Lee Tillman might hold the record.

Tillman, 64, was first convicted of burglary nearly 50 years ago. He was sentenced Friday to 6 ¼ years in prison on his most recent spree of breaking into 10 businesses last year.

“I’ve been a prosecutor here for 12 years and I’ve never seen a defendant with a criminal history as extensive in the property offender realm as Mr. Tillman’s,” said Deputy District Attorney Christopher Shull.

Tillman has mostly targeted small, independently owned businesses, investigators said, with victims including Oven & Shaker in the Pearl District, Chown Hardware on Northwest 16th Avenue, Blush Beauty Bar on Northwest 23rd Avenue, Pizza Schmizza in the Lloyd District, Toadstool Cupcakes on Southeast Hawthorne and the Oregon Food Bank.

Tillman typically kicked in doors or threw bricks or large rocks through windows to gain entry and fuel his cocaine addiction, investigators said. He then made off with wildly varying amounts, from thousands of dollars in electronics to nothing.

Tillman went through a traumatic childhood, according to a report made to the court. He said he’s been diagnosed with post traumatic stress disorder and depression.

He said drugs dull his pain.

During his sentencing hearing, Tillman said he doesn’t remember his transgressions and that he has been surprised over the years when he’s later been told what he’s done by detectives, who have shown him surveillance photos catching him in the act.

Tillman also said he can’t say exactly how many times he’s gone to prison.

“10, 12, 14?” Tillman said. “Something like that.”

According to the Oregon Department of Corrections, Tillman has been sent to prison at least 15 times, said spokeswoman Jennifer Black. The actual number could be higher, but prison officials would need more time to calculate it given Tillman’s extensive criminal history.

Tillman has been convicted of felonies a total of 53 times -- 43 second-degree burglary convictions, plus convictions for stealing cars, theft by receiving and attempting to elude police.

Under Oregon’s Measure 57 property crimes law, Multnomah County Circuit Judge Gregory Silver could have sentenced Tillman to up to 25 years for his latest crimes. That would have worked out to about 2.5 years in prison for each of the 10 counts of second-degree burglary that he pleaded guilty to.

Shull sought a sentence of about seven years for Tillman, saying the District Attorney’s Office was taking his age into account. Defense attorney Jonathan Sarre asked for the minimum the law allowed, 2.5 years, arguing that giving Tillman the sentence that the prosecutor requested would amount to a life sentence because Tillman’s health is failing.

Tillman said he needs heart surgery and the stress of prison will make his condition worse. Younger inmates will target him, giving him no added respect because of his age, he said, recounting previous prison stints.

Tillman said he’s afraid of dying in prison.

“There were times I had to walk around with magazines in my clothes because I didn’t know if I was going to get stabbed,” he said, describing his makeshift body armor.

No business owners attended Tillman’s sentencing.

But Cindy Hymer, owner of Table 6 Cafe, told The Oregonian/OregonLive that after Tillman threw a rock through the glass door of her business, she and a worker spent a day cleaning the entire restaurant, including dishes that had been sprayed with bits of glass.

“I waited for the police to leave and then I just sat on the floor and cried,” Hymer said.

She described the hard work it took to build up her business in the five years since she opened.

During that time, she said, she’s fought cancer, is now healthy and felt as if her business was on “such a growth trajectory.” But the break-in by Tillman was an economic and mental setback.

He made off with an iPad and $6 in coins but caused close to $5,000 in damage, Hymer said. She had to pay $650 of that for her insurance deductible, she said.

It’s a shame Tillman hasn’t been able to see “the beauty of my restaurant” and all the effort she put into it, she said.

Shull told the judge it was necessary to lock Tillman up for a longer prison term to keep society safe from the thousands of dollars in damage that he has caused some businesses.

The prosecutor said Tillman has said in the past that he has wanted to reform and live a better life, but he’s always gotten right back into his old pattern again upon his release from jail or prison.

The judge sentenced Tillman to about half a year less than the prosecutor requested. Silver said Tillman’s ill health doesn’t preclude a longer prison sentence than what his lawyer requested.

“I sincerely hope you are alive when you finish your sentence and you get to walk out of prison,” Silver told Tillman. “And when you do that you walk into a treatment program.”

-- Aimee Green

agreen@oregonian.com

o_aimee

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