Hundreds of dollars of clothing stolen in Albany Mall shoplifting

ALBANY — Two individuals from Valdosta were arrested following a shoplifting incident at the Albany Mall Sunday in which they are reported to have taken hundreds of dollars in merchandise.

An Albany Police Department report on the incident said officers responded to the Belk at the mall at 3:22 p.m. on Sunday. Contact was made with a loss prevention officer who said a man and a woman selected and concealed several items before exiting the store without paying for them.

The loss prevention officer said he received a call from Dillard’s saying two individuals matching the description of the shoplifters had just entered JCPenney. The woman, identified as Monica Stokes Brown, 29, exited JCPenney with a Belk bag and entered a silver Chrysler 300. Contact was made with Brown, at which time the man, Johnny Jay Williams, 31, exited JCPenney, the report said.

Contact was attempted with Williams, who fled on foot before he was located a few minutes later at the Dumpster in the parking lot of 3007 Kensington Court and placed in handcuffs, the report said.

Williams was taken back to the JCPenney parking lot, where contact was made with Brown and the loss prevention officer. The merchandise taken from Belk was in plain view on the floor board of the back seat of the car. The items included multiple shirts, three pairs of pants, one dress and one outfit totaling more than $300 in value, which were returned to the loss prevention officer, the report said.

Additional items were also found to be stolen from JCPenney. The Chrysler was inventoried and towed, and both Brown and Williams were taken to the Dougherty County Jail, the report said.

Jail records showed that Williams was still detained Monday afternoon on a $4,000 bond.