Theft attempts foiled by Walmart, GPD

Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Despite the ingenuity of a couple of theft suspects, three recent incidents again proved crime doesn't pay -- particularly at the Greencastle Walmart store.

Those three incidents resulted in the arrest of four suspects, all of whom ended up lodged in the Putnam County Jail.

The boldest attempt took place early Saturday afternoon and resulted in the arrest of Chris Lee Mitchell, 30, Camby.

City Police reported that Mitchell pushed a cart to the electronics section at the back of the store, where he allegedly loaded up a Blu-Ray player, a DVD player and a TV set.

He then rolled the cart to the restroom area and "hung out in the bathroom" a while before pushing the loaded cart out of the store and across the parking lot.

Mitchell, who was charged with theft, reportedly pushed the cart along the People Pathways trail until he reached the nearby shopping center housing Subway and American Rental. It was there he attracted enough attention that police were called.

GPD Reserve Officer Jerett Query reported that the suspect had unloaded the cart and was sitting on a bench, trying to convince passersby to give him a ride to his home.

When Query questioned the suspect about the Blu-Ray and DVD players and TV in his possession, Mitchell reportedly tried two explanations. One story was that he bought the items at a swap meet, while the other indicated he bought the items from someone in the Walmart parking lot for $100.

Total value of stolen items was listed at $544.

About 24 hours later, Officer Darrel Bunten was called to the store after a 32-year-old Indianapolis woman was reportedly caught with more than $120 in miscellaneous items for which she had not paid.

She had reportedly stashed several items into a pink beach bag, including a bottle of Maker's Mark bourbon, a Mickey Mouse T-shirt and sweatpants, fishing items, an umbrella, a bracelet and a watch.

The suspect reportedly told Officer Bunten that she was taking her children camping and wanted them to have a good time.

She was arrested at 2:30 p.m. Sunday.

The third incident at Walmart occurred shortly before 4 p.m. Friday and resulted in the arrest of two Greencastle women. Sgt. Christopher Jones investigated the incident.

Lodged in the Putnam County Jail on theft charges were Tracy Lee Boehm, 35, and Tammy Lee Jones, 29, who allegedly took more than $65 worth of miscellaneous merchandise, including such items as stickers, cards, plastic beads and electrical cords.

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  • He got pretty far. Sounds like the security buzzer wasn't working.

    -- Posted by thereishope on Wed, Jun 22, 2011, at 1:18 AM
  • Note to potential thieves: when stealing electronics from Wal-Mart, bring a car.

    -- Posted by Clovertucky on Wed, Jun 22, 2011, at 3:56 AM
  • Yeah - I always get a bottle of Maker's Mark Bourbon to take camping when I want my children to have a good time too... How dumb can you be???

    -- Posted by freebird on Wed, Jun 22, 2011, at 7:03 AM
  • Good one freebird. My thoughts too. The world is filled with idiots.

    -- Posted by jakeboy on Wed, Jun 22, 2011, at 10:26 AM
  • Well, this confirms it. People really are stupid.

    -- Posted by Violet23 on Wed, Jun 22, 2011, at 12:12 PM
  • I'm glad I'm not related to the idoit beggin for a get away car. That was a very well thought out plan. Someone should smack his brother.

    -- Posted by ej4810 on Thu, Jun 23, 2011, at 8:25 PM
  • Don't surprise me he got out of the store with electronics-can't get anyone to help you in any department cause they don't have enough help-the door greeter is usually talking to people known to them-recent visit to store-lights going off and on-hot in the store and no one to wait on me.Seems Walmart prices have gone up and -quality of some things not good-started going Kroger-air conditioning on and better quality of meat and produce and didnt have to stand in line forever.

    -- Posted by peace2019 on Thu, Jun 23, 2011, at 9:46 PM
  • In the bigger cities, the greeter is supposed to check receipts, like Sam's Club!

    -- Posted by Sunflowermel on Sat, Jun 25, 2011, at 2:34 PM
  • I didn't even know that Wal-Mart sold liquor!! - oh the PEOPLE OF WAL-MART!!

    I agree with bam - Kroger is alot better when it comes to food!

    -- Posted by Qclady1 on Wed, Jun 29, 2011, at 10:10 AM
  • The alarms at Wal-Mart only go off when you have paid for your items!

    -- Posted by nikkilpn on Wed, Jun 29, 2011, at 3:27 PM
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