Second suspect sought for additional charge

A Douglasville man and a Buchanan woman face charges following a shoplifting incident that turned up items from the Buchanan Highway Dollar General on Monday, according to reports.

Luc Bernard Joseph, 46, of a Douglasville address, was taken into custody after officers found multiple items in his New England Patriots coat that he wore inside the store during a Monday shoplifting incident.

Per the report, law enforcement from Polk County Police and Cedartown Police were called out to Dollar General on Buchanan Highway after Joseph had been in the store for a while and employees believed something was up.

When Joseph attempted to leave, police had arrived and stopped him in the parking lot. When he was detained and searched, police found $34 worth of items including tampons, cat food, cat litter and pet toys.

Employees noted he had been involved in a shoplifting incident on April 24, having concealed items in the same coat he wore on Monday. Amid that incident, Joseph was accused of having “brazenly stealing an entire rack of Energizer Lithium batteries” on video surveillance footage.

Jennifer Sprawls, 45, came out of the store during the middle of the arrest, and asked what was going on during Joseph’s arrest since she came to the store with him. Police took her information, gave her the keys to Joseph’s truck, and let her leave without any further issue.

After that, Dollar General employees provided information that Sprawls had been with Joseph during a previous shoplifting incident in April via security camera evidence.

Polk County Police sought charges against Sprawls for party to a crime. She had not been booked into custody as of this posting.

Joseph was booked into the Polk County Jail on a pair of misdemeanor shoplifting charges. He was later released on a $2,000 bond.