Man Who Stole Wedding Ring From MAX Murder Victim Back To Jail

PORTLAND, OR – Judge Michael Greenlick seems to believe in George Tschaggeny. Instead of sending him to prison for two years, on Monday he gave him 20 days in jail.

The 52-year-old is a former heroin addict who spent ten months in prison after stealing the wedding and wallet from Ricky Best as he lay dying from stab wounds on a MAX platform in May 2017.

Best was one of two men who were killed trying to defuse a situation aboard a MAX train that started when Jeremy Christian hurled racial invective toward two young women. It was an incident that roiled the city.

Tschaggeny had been sentenced to 13 months and served 10, getting released this past April. Get all the latest information on what's happening in your community by signing up for Patch's newsletters and breaking news alerts.

Since then, Tschaggeny – who had problems before the attack – has continued to have problems working toward recovery, missing some urine-testing appointments and being disruptive at group counseling sessions.

He threatened to push a counselor in front of a bus and has made comments about the incident last year that led prosecutors to suggest he has not shown remorse for what happened.

At the same time, he has generally stayed clean and has not been arrested.

So, when prosecutors said that they wanted to send him to prison for two years for violating the terms of his probation, Judge Greenlick disagreed.

He told Tschaggeny that he needs to understand how close he is to going to prison and he needs to start taking things more seriously.

Greenlick said that he believes Tschaggeny is beginning to show that he knows that he needs help.

Photo via Multnomah County Sheriff's Office.