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Charges filed in attempted iPad thefts
Two Columbus, Ohio, women have formally been charged for allegedly trying to steal iPads from the Greencastle Walmart store.
Jolisha L. McDonald, 23, and Danielle E. White, 23, each faces four misdemeanors arising from the Saturday morning incident at the store on the city's East Side.
McDonald is charged with attempted theft and conspiracy to commit theft, both Class A misdemeanors, as well as criminal mischief and false informing, Class B misdemeanors.
Having bonded out of the Putnam County Jail on Saturday evening, McDonald is due in Putnam Superior Court at 2 p.m. on Monday, March 30.
White faces three Class A misdemeanors of attempted theft, conspiracy to commit theft and possession of a controlled substance, as well as Class B misdemeanor false informing.
Shortly after White was booked into jail on Saturday morning, a jail officer found an outstanding warrant in her name out of West Virginia, leaving her unable to post bond over the weekend.
In Putnam Superior Court on Monday, Judge Pro Tem Scott Bieniek entered a not-guilty plea on White's behalf and appointed Eddie Felling as her attorney.
The judge also set her bond at $5,000 cash, with 10 percent allowed.
However, the Greenfield Police Department spent part of Tuesday gathering information to charge White with theft for an earlier incident in Hancock County.
Two women matching White's and McDonald's descriptions are believed to have successfully stolen 29 iPads from the Greenfield Walmart earlier last week.
Communications between Walmart stores and a television news report about the Greenfield thefts actually aided local authorities in identifying and ultimately arresting the duo.
At 4:21 a.m. Saturday, police were dispatched to the Greencastle Walmart regarding two females trying to gain entry into a showcase in the electronics department.
Upon arrival at the store, Officer Kyle Lee of the Greencastle Police Department spoke with a Walmart asset protection associate, who said the women matched the description of the women from the Greenfield thefts, who are believed to have perpetrated at least 40 Walmart thefts. The associate told Lee and sheriff's department Lt. Virgil Lanning that the women were still in the electronics department, with one of them trying to break in with some kind of tool.
The women were not confronted, with Walmart associates instead notifying authorities of the issue.
Still parked in the Walmart lot, Lee and Lanning watched two black women leave the store and get into a red Toyota. Leaving the parking lot, they crossed Indianapolis Road onto Calbert Way, which has no outlet.
In the meantime, the Walmart associate notified the police that the women had left the store in the red Toyota.
While leaving the Walmart lot, Lee noticed the Toyota again approaching Indianapolis Road and turning west toward Greencastle.
Lee made a traffic stop at the intersection of Indianapolis Road and 10th Street.
Upon first contact with the police, neither woman gave her real name, with McDonald claiming to be Melissa Morrow and White identifying herself as Stephanie Toles.
In McDonald's case, Lee found paperwork properly identifying her when she granted him permission to search her purse.
White even had a photo ID identifying herself as Toles, but Lee could see significant differences in White and the woman in the photo. Police learned her real identity after she was fingerprinted at the jail.
During the stop, GPD Capt. Chris Jones pulled up the news report that contained a surveillance photo from the Greenfield Walmart. White and McDonald appeared to match the two women in the photo, with McDonald even carrying a purse that matched one in the photo.
The search also revealed a small crowbar and a magnetic device used to remove anti-theft protection from electronics. White was also found to be in possession of oxycodone.
The Walmart associate also identified McDonald as the woman who damaged the Walmart showcase while attempting to gain entry, therefore she also faces the criminal mischief charge.
As of Tuesday evening it remained unclear what charges, if any, the women could face regarding the thefts they are suspected of committing at other Walmart stores in Indiana and Ohio.