Suspects in $2,700 Walmart theft make initial court appearance

Despite one of the more creative recent attempts at shoplifting, a pair of local suspects are still facing theft charges.

Suspects in a $2,700 theft from the Greencastle Walmart store earlier this week, Ryan Basler, 31, and fiancee Chelsay Dickerson, 24, of 1102 Avenue D, Greencastle, made their initial court appearances Friday morning in Putnam Superior Court.

A portion of the $2,754 in merchandise stolen from Walmart Monday and recovered later this week is displayed by Greencastle City Police.

Judge Denny Bridges entered not-guilty pleas to the theft charge on their behalf, while banning them from Walmart property by virtue of a no-contact order. Theft, a Level 6 felony, is punishable by 6-30 months in jail.

Bond was set for each suspect at $10,000 (with 10 percent allowed) or home detention should they qualify.

By finding a hole in the Lawn and Garden Department fence and reportedly expanding it for their own purposes, Basler and Dickerson allegedly removed items from the store and loaded them into a pickup truck in a Monday, Oct. 24 incident, according to a Greencastle City Police report.

GPD Officer Darrel Bunten was called to the 24-hour Walmart superstore just before 5 p.m. Monday, learning that Walmart Asset Protection Manager Randall Spannuth that a hole in the fence was discovered by the assistant manager.

On store surveillance video, investigators observed a male and female suspect selecting store items and placing them in a pair of shopping carts.

The suspects were then seen entering the lawn and garden area before pushing the items through the fence and outside the store where they loaded them into the truck and left the area, police said.

Officer Bunten was able to identify and locate the suspects and obtained a search warrant for their Avenue D residence and arrested the couple Wednesday, lodging them in the Putnam County Jail.

More than $2,700 worth of merchandise was recovered, including four LED televisions, three LED light bar units for a vehicle, an LED truck bed light, a couple of sets of luggage, Coleman and Igloo coolers, speakers, amplifiers and a car stereo, a car jump-start kit with air compressor, Dremel tools, a Big Buddy heater, a pressure washer and a BB gun, as well as $400 in miscellaneous items.

A police spokesman said the suspects had posted some of the items for sale on an Internet yard sale site.

Assisting Officer Bunten in the investigation were City Police Chief Tom Sutherlin, Assistant Chief Brian Hopkins, Sgt. Ed Wilson and Officer Kyle Lee.

In court Friday, Judge Bridges appointed Sid Tongret as legal counsel for Basler, and named Scott Adams to represent Dickerson.

A pretrial conference in the case is set for Dec. 18.