Tag Team Shoplifting

We have already reported this work on teamwork of thieves in home break-ins.  Now we have a report of teamwork among shoplifters.  Wilkesboro Police received a call from Lowes Hardware Sunday afternoon.  When police arrived, the Loss Prevention Officer told them a woman he had detained at the store was observed stealing several items.  The woman, Lelia Triplette, admitted to taking the merchandise from the store but told police that she was not working or rather shoplifting alone.  There were two others involved.  Video surveillance at the store confirmed Triplette story.  A man in the parking lot pushed the shopping cart with the stolen items to Murphy’s Gas Station where he and another woman pushed the cart inside the bathroom.  Triplette then received a cell phone call as to where she could meet her accomplices.  The man, James Wood, and the woman, Kimberly Blackburn, were picked up by police and questioned.  They were uncooperative with police and gave them false information during the investigation.  Triplette was given a citation for shoplifting.  Both Wood and Blackburn were arrested and charged with misdemeanor larceny and resisting arrest.  All the stolen merchandise valued at nearly 800 dollars was recovered and returned to Lowes.