A Gassville woman whose shoplifting attempt led to more serious drug-related charges pled guilty to those charges during a session of Baxter County Circuit Court last week and was sentenced to four years probation.
Forty-seven-year-old Rita Leach was arrested in late October last year when a Mountain Home Police officer responded to a shoplifting call at Walmart. A store employee charged with detecting people trying to get out of the store with unpaid merchandise told police Leach had been seen putting items in her purse and attempting to leave the business without stopping at a checkout stand.
When the officer searched Leach’s purse, her legal problems grew worse. The purse contained a glass smoking pipe with white residue and a small plastic bag containing a white crystalline substance field testing positive for methamphetamine.
Leach was arrested and taken to the Baxter County jail. When questioned, Leach admitted she had a smoking pipe and methamphetamine in the purse she was using in an attempt to sneak merchandise out of Walmart.
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