A man and a juvenile boy face theft by taking charges after they allegedly loaded an electric grocery shopping cart into their truck and drove away.
The mistake they made, according to the Commerce Police Department, was stealing it from a store across the street from where they lived.
Police were called to Quality Foods, Maysville Road, where store personnel told them two white males stole one of the motorized shopping carts provided for disabled customers. The cart was valued at $3,000. The witnesses were able to provide thorough descriptions of an adult white male and a juvenile white male — thanks in part to a store video that recorded the theft.
Later that day, a store manager called the officer back to the scene to report that the adult male had returned to the store to buy cigarettes. As a result, personnel got the tag number from the vehicle. Further, some of the store personnel recognized the young suspect and said the two lived at Jackson Hills Apartments — right across B. Wilson Road from the store.
The report said the officer drove over to the apartments, found the vehicle and parked behind it. Nearby he saw the boy matching the description provided by store personnel.
The officer said he asked the boy if he knew why the officer was there. The boy replied in the affirmative and identified Michael Butler, 36, 110 B. Wilson Road, as the driver of the truck.
Wilson came out of one of the apartments, the report said, and denied knowing anything about the cart. However, a woman in the same apartment told police the shopping cart was behind the apartment.
Butler was taken to the Jackson County Jail. The juvenile was released in the custody of his mother. The report said that the boy admitted to police that he and Butler stole the shopping cart.
