BY DAN HILDEBRAN
A Starke man accused of shoplifting eight times over three weeks was sentenced to three years in prison after pleading to the crimes.
James Alfred Baxley, 35, pleaded to felony petit theft.
According to complaints and arrest reports, on January 5, Winn Dixie employees told Starke Police, and store video showed the defendant stuffing three T-bones and two beef tenderloins into his pants and leaving the store.
The following day, around 7:40 p.m., a Winn Dixie worker saw Baxley with a shopping cart near the meat section. The worker called the police and stopped Baxley as he left the store with stolen goods, telling the 35-year-old, “You’re not leaving with this.” Baxley fled the scene.
An hour later, a different Winn Dixie worker saw the defendant take a shopping buggy to the meat department and place six T-bones and two slabs of spareribs into the cart.
As the defendant left the store, the female worker grabbed the buggy and told Baxley, “Not tonight, Buddy; you already got us once earlier.”
The defendant then left the store without the merchandise, and as with the previous thefts, police could not locate the man.
On January 7, an Aldi manager reported an attempted retail theft case in which the suspect, identified as Baxley, tried to steal meat products by hiding them in his pants. A store employee stopped the attempted theft, and Baxley left the business.
The Aldi manager showed deputies video of the previous day in which Baxley successfully pilfered Black Angus beef on two separate occasions,
On January 14, Baxley returned to Winn Dixie and reverted to his successful M.O., stuffing six T-bones into his pants and walking out of the store.
On January 31, Walmart sent the Bradford Sheriff’s Office a photo of a man suspected of shoplifting, and dispatch forwarded the image to deputies via cell phones. Officers located the suspect on foot between the Holiday Inn Express and Badcock Furniture. In his pants, they discovered seven packs of bacon and two packs of beef brisket.
