3 accused shoplifters have 27 prior offenses
BUTLER TWP — Three alleged shoplifters are accused of taking merchandise from township stores.
And it's not like they haven't been down this road before. Among them, authorities said, the trio has racked up more than two dozen prior shoplifting convictions.
One of the suspects, Terry Williams, 53, of Butler, has 15 priors — 11 of which are felonies.
Butler Township police on Monday obtained an arrest warrant for Williams. He's charged with a felony count of retail theft and a summary charge of defiant trespass.
While normally a summary or misdemeanor offense under state law, retail theft is upgraded to a third-degree felony regardless of the stolen property's value when a suspect has at least two prior convictions for the same crime.
In his latest case, according to court documents, Williams is accused of trying to take an air mattress and a container of brake fluid Jan. 13 from the Walmart at the Butler Commons shopping plaza.
When store security stopped him as he headed out the door with the $126.26 in merchandise in a shopping cart, police said, Williams took off running.
By then employees had already identified him. They were familiar with him from previous incidents, investigators said, which in March 2015 got him banned from all Walmart stores.
Police on Monday also charged eight-time convicted shoplifter Marjorie G. Gold, 48, of Jackson Township with felony retail theft.
She allegedly stuffed food items into her purse Jan. 9 at the Sheetz convenience store on Route 68. A sharp-eared employee is credited with catching Gold in the act,
While the defendant was moving around the store, according to a police affidavit, the employee heard the “cracking and crunching” of wrappers coming from her purse.
He confronted Gold at the door and she turned over 10 small food items that totaled $17.44.
Authorities said they plan to notify Gold to turn herself in to police. If she fails to do so, an arrest warrant will be issued.
Already in Butler County Prison for felony shoplifting is Joyce M. Anderson, 45, of Butler, who has four prior convictions for the same crime.
She was arrested at about 8 p.m. Friday, police said, allegedly putting merchandise into her purse at Moraine Pointe Plaza's Giant Eagle store.
Anderson admitted taking the assorted health and beauty products, documents said, after the store's loss prevention officer confronted her at the door.
But that was not all that police found in Anderson's purse. A search turned up 14 stamp bags and three empty bags of suspected heroin and two hypodermic needles.
She allegedly had another stamp bag in a coat pocket.
Anderson was arraigned later that night on a charge of felony retail theft and misdemeanor counts of possession of a controlled substance and drug paraphernalia.
Anderson is being held in the county prison on $5,000 bail.
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