A woman accused of stealing another woman’s wallet out of a shopping cart was arrested last Friday.

Chelsi Renee Smith, 25, formerly of Brazil, now from Sullivan, was booked into the Greene County Jail at 2:22 p.m. last Friday, April 9. A warrant was out for Smith’s arrest on a preliminary charge of theft, a Level 6 felony. Smith’s bond was set at $4,000 surety with ten percent cash allowed. She posted $400 the same day as her arrest and was released. She is scheduled to appear in Greene Superior Court for an initial hearing on Thursday, April 22.

Story posted on GreeneStreets on Thursday, April 1, 2021

Warrant issued for woman accused of stealing wallet

After a woman left her wallet in a shopping cart, another woman spotted it, picked it up and did not turn it in.

A warrant has been issued for the arrest of Chelsi Renee Smith, 25, Brazil, as a result of an investigation by Officer Janzen Franklin of the Linton Police Department into a complaint of theft.

In early March, a woman went in to the Linton Police Department and said her wallet was stolen while she was in the Walmart store in Linton. She said when she left the store, she left her wallet in a cart and when one of the store’s Asset Protection Associates (APA) reviewed the store’s video surveillance, it showed a man and woman taking the cart with the wallet. She said the wallet contained $440 cash, her social security card, pictures and various debit, credit and gift cards. She also said that since the wallet was taken, one of the debit cards was used at a gas station in Bicknell but the transaction was not successful.

Officer Franklin talked to the Asset Protection Associate who told him the shopper had left the wallet in a cart near the grocery entrance and a man and woman walking to the exit looked at the cart then exited the store. But they turned back around and headed inside and the man grabbed the cart with the wallet and started pushing it through the store. He said the woman then grabbed the wallet, the man pushed the cart to the side and the two of them then left the store with the wallet.

The APA thought he knew the woman to be Chelsi Smith and when provided with a photo lineup, he was able to identify her.

When Officer Franklin went to the gas station in Bicknell, he viewed video surveillance footage of the attempted transaction with the debit card and he reported the video showed a man and woman matching a detailed description of the two that was provided by the Walmart APA.

Officer Franklin also talked to an officer with the Sullivan Police Department who was able to identify both the man and woman.

Officer Franklin has made multiple attempts to contact both individuals with no success.

The warrant for Smith’s arrest was issued last Thursday, March 25.

She is facing preliminary charges of theft, with a prior conviction for either theft or conversion, a Level 6 felony. Smith does have a prior conviction. In June of 2020, she was convicted of misdemeanor theft in Sullivan County.