If you’re going to shoplift, don’t do it at a store where you’ve left your name and address.
According a report at the Commerce Police Department, that’s exactly what landed three people in jail on charges of shoplifting at Ingles.
According to the officer’s account, he was summoned to Ingles, Hwy. 334, by a manager who showed him the store surveillance tape of three people leaving the store with a pair of DVDs. The tape allegedly showed one of them handing the merchandise around the store’s theft detector to one of the others, after which the three got into a vehicle and left.
The manager was able to provide police with a name and address because the suspects had rented movies in the past. The officer drove to 31 Cole Court where he confronted Matthew Scott Hall, 34, and Angela McCandless, 27, both of that address; and Ashley Nicole Timms, 18, of 298 South Main Street, Jonesboro.
The officer reported that none of the three could account for the two DVDs, which he recovered. Each, he said, said they thought the others had paid for it.
The officer took McCandless back to the store because she hoped to explain the “mistake” and pay for the DVDs. Her explanation was that the suspects circumvented the security system so it wouldn’t “beep” but were coming back in to pay for the merchandise — “Bob the Builder: The Three Muskettrucks,” and “Summertime Fun.”
The manager didn’t buy McCandless’ explanation, so the three were charged with theft by shoplifting.
For a complete list of arrests made by the Commerce Police Department during the past week, see the July 23 edition of The Commerce News.
