A Linton man, who was kicked off private property where he was staying in a tent, has been accused of stealing an electric cart from a Linton store.  

John Henry Jordan, Jr., 53, of Linton, was arrested on Monday, July 15, by Deputy Chief Debbie McDonald of the Linton Police Department.

LPD Chief Paul Clark and McDonald responded to a report of trespassing around 1:20 p.m. that afternoon at the Burger King restaurant where management said Jordan was on their property but previously had been ordered not to trespass there.

When the officers arrived, Jordan said he was not aware the area where he was belonged to Burger King and he started to move on, towards Walmart. McDonald reminded him he was not to trespass on property owned by Orscheln or Walmart and Jordan indicated he wasn’t going there.

At Burger King, Jordan was told not to return on May 28 when he signed an acknowledgement that he understood.

About an hour later, at approximately 2:30 p.m., the two officers responded to Walmart on a similar report. A store asset protection associate told them Jordan was inside the store but he was told not to return on June 18 when he signed an acknowledgement that he understood. The employee also said Jordan had taken possession of an electric shopping cart.

When the officers arrived, Jordan was exiting the store on the electric shopping cart and was taken into custody.

There’s background on this incident: Clark said that since May 1, the LPD has responded about 10 times to calls from businesses located in the area of Burger King and Walmart involving Jordan trespassing on their property, or they wanted to give notice to him not to come back.

In addition, LPD responded to a complaint on June 2 about a man, later identified as Jordan, who was camping in a tent on private property in the same vicinity. Outside the tent was an electric shopping cart from Walmart that had been taken without permission. At that time, Jordan allegedly said he didn’t know where the cart came from and it was there when he got there. Jordan was told to leave the property.

Clark said the Walmart associate estimated the value of the electric shopping cart to be $1,231.80.

Clark also noted that Jordan has been previously convicted of theft in Greene County.

Jordan’s bond was set at $6,000 surety with ten percent cash allowed. As of Wednesday evening, he had not yet posted bond and was still in jail.

When Jordan appears in court for his initial hearing, he will be charged with:

• Theft where value of property is between $750 and $50,000, a Level 6 felony.

• Two counts of criminal trespassing, both as a Class A misdemeanor.