Changing the channel has never been so costly.

Eric Bramwell, who committed the heinous crime of stealing a remote control from the common area in an apartment complex in Wheaton, Ill. in the summer of 2015, has been sentenced to 22 years behind bars.

Does the punishment fit the crime? It doesn't seem like it, but in this instance authorities had to put the hammer down. That's because Bramwell, 35, was fingered in other remote and TV thefts in the area. Dude really likes his boob tube, huh?

Bramwell had been found guilty in November and if he was expecting a slap on the wrist, boy, was he wrong, thanks to his history of being on the wrong side of the law. At least that's what State Attorney Robert Berlin said:

Mr. Bramwell's illegal activity and his history have finally caught up with him. Regardless of what was stolen, Mr. Bramwell repeatedly thumbed his nose at the law. He took what he wanted time and time again and expected to avoid the consequences. That's not how it works, as Mr. Bramwell has now found out."

The good news for Bramwell is that he will be eligible for parole after serving the first decade of his sentence, which should be more than enough time for continually-evolving technology to advance to the point where viewers can change the channel simply by thinking about it, thus depriving him the temptation to steal remote controls.

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