Woman accused of theft of a driver’s license

A 46-year-old woman is accused of theft after she picked up another woman’s driver’s license that had been dropped on the floor but instead of turning it in to the store, or the police department, or the rightful owner, she dropped it into her purse.

Stacy Jo Bowers

Stacy Jo Bowers, 46, Dugger, was arrest Friday, May 19, by Deputy Sergeant Jordan Allor of the Greene County Sheriff's Department on a warrant that was issued on Friday, May 12, following an investigation by Officer Mitchell Eberhardt of the Linton Police Department.

Officer Eberhardt along with Officer Davis Aerne were dispatched to the Chuckles gas station in Linton on April 29 after a woman contacted LPD and said she thought she forgot her identification, an Indiana driver’s license, at the station the night before. She said she had called them but they said they didn't have it and she they thought they were not telling the truth so she asked for law enforcement to go talk to the clerk.

When the officers arrived and talked to the clerk, she said she told them she had called the shift that was working that night and then she told the woman they had not seen or found an ID and if they did, they would have put it in a box on the counter. She also said her manager was on his way into the store. The manager gave them permission to check this surveillance footage.

The officers reported that the woman did make a purchase of alcohol which required her to get her ID out which she then placed on the counter and the clerk then placed a bag on the counter covering up the ID. When the woman picked up the bag, the ID got dragged off the counter with the bag and the woman did not notice it fall onto the ground in front of the counter as she walked out of the station.

Another woman then walked in and walked up to the counter, later identified as Stacy Bowers. who then stepped back from the counter, reached down to where the ID fell and put something in her purse.

When the officers made contact with Bowers, she allegedly said she saw an ID on the floor and picked it up because she thought it was hers. She said she'd been having trouble with the purse she has been using and stuff had been falling out of it so she thought it was her ID that fell out and she just picked it up and put it back into her purse without looking at it. She also stated that she did not have the ID with her because a friend had it and was going to take it to the police department but not had not made it there yet. The officer has told her it had been almost a week since it was taken and Bowers said she had forgotten about it and just had not had time to bring it in.

On May 6, Bowers brought the missing ID to the Linton Police Department, turned it in and the rightful owner was able to pick it up.

Eberhardt noted that a review of the criminal history of Bowers showed she was convicted of theft out of Sullivan County in 2020.

The Greene County Prosecutors Office filed a criminal case against Bowers on May 12 and the warrant for her arrest was issued the same day.

Bowers was then arrested by Sergeant Allor and booked into the Greene County Jail last Friday, May 19, at 4:41 PM with bond set at $4000 surety with 10% cash allowed. She posted $400 and was released later the same day.

Bowers is scheduled to appear in Greene Superior Court for her initial hearing on June 1 for a charge of theft with a prior conviction for theft or conversion, a Level 6 felony.