Top Dollar Pawn Shop owner guilty of racketeering sentenced, 8 years in community corrections

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) - One-half of the husband and wife Top Dollar Pawn Shop owners has learned her sentence for knowingly purchasing stolen items from thieves and then re-selling them for profit.

Friday, Mischa Jargowsky was handed an 8-year community corrections sentence after an El Paso County jury found her guilty of a pattern of racketeering and money laundering in Feb. 2024.

It's been nearly two years since the FBI, Colorado Springs Police, and Pueblo Police raided four top-dollar pawn locations at the same time in what was labeled an organized financial crime ring. Prosecutors alleged the pawn shop owners, Jack and Mischa Jargowsky, profited by over $1.4 million by taking in new, unused items from "boosters" who were stealing from large box store retailers in southern Colorado.

Additionally, Jargowsky, her husband, and two others are accused of concealing that the items were stolen from retail stores before selling them in the pawn shops or through eBay.

In court Friday, Mischa Jargowsky didn't offer an apology or remorse after being found guilty. Instead, she claimed that her felony conviction does not represent who she is as a person.

"I am not who the court said that I am. I'm not that person. I give my life for people. I give my life for the homeless and for, you know, anyone that I come in contact with," Mischa Jargowsky said.

She asked El Paso County Judge David Gilbert for "mercy" moments before he handed down her sentence. In this case, the prosecution objected to a probation sentence, while Jargowsky's attorney asked for a period of time on probation.

"I am not a materialistic person. The Lord has given me what I have and I have almost lost it more than this time. He will provide for me. He will go before me and he will open every door that I need opened," Jargowsky said.

Before sentencing Jargowsky to community corrections, which is an in-community detention facility where people can work while living in the facility, Judge Gilbert did not mince words about the impact the Top Dollar Pawn criminal enterprise had on the community.

Gilbert told Jargowsky, and a large contingent of family members in attendance at the hearing, that the evidence points to Top Dollar Pawn turning a blind eye to people with serious drug addictions using the money obtained from the stolen merchandise to further their drug use.

He also pointed out the ramifications on retail stores across Colorado Springs and Pueblo having to compensate for the loss in revenue from the stolen goods. He said these stores, like Home Depot and Lowes, have likely been forced to raise their prices, additional costs on items that have been incurred by the entire community who shops at these stores.

"When you could see that someone was coming to your store multiple times a week with new tools or phones or whatever it is to sell, even sometimes several of the same items, you clearly knew these were not Christmas gifts," Judge Gilbert said.

In addition to sentencing Jargowsky to community corrections, Judge Gilbert ordered that she not be able to work at a pawn shop anywhere in Colorado until her 8-year sentence ends. Jargowsky, and her attorney, have 21 days to file a potential appeal on the case.

The 4th Judicial District Attorney's office is researching whether this case has restitution that can be paid from Jargowsky to the victims in the case, namely the retailers who had stolen items taken from them.

Her husband, Jack Jargowsky, has not been convicted. His trial is scheduled for July.