When a woman suspected of shoplifting dumped out her purse to show she wasn’t hiding any items, two Butterfinger candy bars rolled out. Now she’s been arrested and is facing a charge of theft.

Amanda Dawn Wheeler, 42, Jasonville, was arrested on Thursday, January 30, by Special Deputy Karen Oliphant of the Greene County Sheriff’s Department. Wheeler was transported to the Greene County Jail from the Clay County Jail yesterday.

Wheeler is facing a charge of theft with a prior conviction for theft, a Level 6 felony. This is the latest case filed against Wheeler as a result of an investigation by Officer Dustin Cain of the Jasonville Police Department into an incident that occurred in Jasonville back in October.

On Monday, October 21, Officer Cain responded to Casey’s General Store. When he arrived, a store cashier was pointing to a vehicle that was pulling onto the highway. Officer Cain got behind the vehicle and it pulled into an adjacent lot and stopped. Amanda Wheeler was the driver who got out of the vehicle and allegedly told the officer she was sorry and that she gave the items back.

When Officer Cain talked to the cashier, he said he was watching when Wheeler kneeled in an aisle and put a sandwich in her purse. When she checked out with other items, the cashier asked if she had anything else and Wheeler allegedly laid several more items on the counter. He asked for her name and she wouldn’t give it to him but she allegedly said she wouldn’t come back to the store. She then left.

When Officer Cain talked to Wheeler, she allegedly admitted taking four candy bars and a sandwich and that she made a mistake. She did pay for other items. She said she gave back the items that were in her purse.

When asked if there was anything else that she did not return, she said she couldn’t think of anything else. So Officer Cain asked where her purse was. He said Wheeler then got her purse from her vehicle and dumped it out on the ground.

Officer Cain reported that when she dumped the purse, two Butterfinger candy bars fell out and Wheeler said, “Oh shit.”

The total value of the Butterfinger bars was $3.38.

Wheeler was released from the scene that night. The officer submitted the information to the prosecutor’s office and a criminal case was filed against her on October 28. That warrant has remained outstanding since then, until she was transferred to Greene County from Clay County yesterday.

Officer Cain noted that Wheeler was convicted and sentenced for theft in January of 2007.

Another case is now pending against Wheeler. She was convicted of possession of a controlled substance in October and sentenced to one year in jail with all suspended except for the 48 days of credit she had at the time of sentencing. After the latest case was filed against her, a petition to revoke the suspended sentence was filed and a second warrant was issued for her arrest in mid-November.

Wheeler is now scheduled to appear in Greene Superior Court next week for two hearings, one on the latest theft and one on the revocation of her suspended sentence.