Three accused shoplifters, three different stores, nearly $5,000 worth of loot. That’s a quick look at three cases recently handed Gainesville police detectives. Here are the details:
*45-year-old Linda Sue Dowd was booked into the Hall County Jail after she allegedly tried to walk out of Home Depot on Dawsonville Highway with a pressure washer and other items. In addition to shoplifting items worth more than $500, she’s also facing a drug charge after police say they found her in possession of cocaine and she’s being held for authorities in another unidentified county.
*Another shoplifting suspect who was recently locked up, Alexandra Crystal McFarland, 35, is accused of taking miscellaneous items worth more than $1,300 from the Target store on Shallowford.
*The Walmart on Shallowford was the scene of another recent shoplifting that involved more than just a few dollars’ worth of items. Almost $3,000 worth, in fact, police said. Edward James Gourley, 66, was still in jail at mid-afternoon Wednesday on bonds totaling $2,950.
*Bond has been set at $5,900 for 32-year-old Joshua Thomas Kaider. Hall County sheriff’s deputies say he is accused of burglary after he broke into one commercial building and then moved to another that was abandoned. That, they say, is where he was captured. He is also charged with theft by receiving stolen property. No word on what was stolen and what it was worth.