Shoplifting defendant stands trial

A man accused of stealing a wire mesh strainer from the Seneca Wal-Mart will allow an Oconee jury to decide his fate, without putting up any defense. Curtis J. Bearden today decided not to testify, and his attorney called no witnesses. Bearden’s was a brief one-day trial in which prosecution witnesses accused him of being the man who put the strainer into a bag, walked through the store, bypassed the cash registers, ran out the front door, while being chased by a Wal-Mart loss and prevention employee. The theft occurred in September 2017. However, it was not until the following March when a deputy sheriff obtained a warrant charging Bearden with shoplifting enhancement. Deputy Pelfrey said he recognized Bearden from a video taken by the store. When asked why he had waited six months to get a warrant, Pelfrey said the case was delayed when a fire in the jail destroyed the evidence. Without that evidence, according to Pelfrey, the Sheriff’s Office relied on the Wal-Mart video.