Tip leads to shoplifting suspect’s arrest

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SDN Staff Reports

Starkville police have charged a man with two counts of shoplifting in connection with the theft of boots and a coat from the Oktibbeha County Co-Op in two separate incidents last month.
Willie “Pookie” Scott, 29, of 849 East Yorkville Road, Columbus, was arrested by Columbus police and transported to Starkville to face two shoplifting charges in connection with the Jan. 3 and Jan. 11 thefts from the Co-Op.
Scott was identified after a video footage of the Jan. 11 shoplifting incident was broadcast as a Golden Triangle Crime Stoppers spot during a local television newscast.
The broadcast resulted in a tip that identified Scott as the suspect, and he was arrested Wednesday after Starkville police obtained a warrant and transmitted to Columbus authorities to arrest him, said SPD Officer Chad Williams, who responded to both shoplifting cases.
In the Jan. 3 incident, the suspect and an unspecified black woman entered the Co-Op store on Pollard Road during the afternoon hours and took a pair of Wellington Boots.
In the Jan. 11 incident, the suspect returned to the store alone and stole a pair of Georgia boots and a Carhartt coat. The incident was captured by security video cameras, and the owners identified the suspect as the same man in the Jan. 3 shoplifting, Williams said.
After the video footage of the Jan. 11 incident aired on television, police “got at tip within a week” that helped them identify Scott as the suspect.
Scott was released on a $2,000 bond Wednesday afternoon.
The incidents remain under investigation, police said.