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Jennifer Rawls, of Millbrook, Arrested on 21 Counts of Theft; Bond Set at $10,500

FROM CHIEF P.K. JOHNSON

MILLBROOK POLICE DEPARTMENT

Photo is the suspect’s driver’s license.

On Tuesday, January 7, 2020, Jennifer Dawn Rawls, a 45-year-old Millbrook resident, was placed under arrest, being charged with 21 counts of Theft of Property 4th Degree. Ms. Rawls was taken into custody at her residence without incident and transported to the Millbrook Police Department for processing. Rawls was later transported to the Elmore County Jail, where she remains in custody under a $10,500 bond.

According to multiple reports filed by a local business on Monday, January 6, 2020, loss prevention personnel state that the alleged offender entered the business on numerous occasions from November 17, 2019 through December 22, 2019 for the purpose of committing the crime of theft. According to complaints filed in the Millbrook Municipal Court, Ms. Rawls is alleged to have entered the business on multiple occasions, each time selecting assorted merchandise and proceeding to the self checkout counter. Each time the alleged offender would scan some merchandise, but failed to scan selected merchandise. The alleged offender would then pass the final point of sale failing to pay for the merchandise that had not been scanned. Loss prevention personnel were able to learn the suspect’s identity and did obtain warrants for each case of theft from the business.

We are pleased to announce this arrest but are saddened to find the offender is from our city. Unfortunately we have people from outside our city come here on a regular basis to commit thefts, with the thought process that they can hop back on the interstate or cross into another neighboring city and avoid capture by law enforcement.

There are several fallacies with that particular line of thinking. One being our police officers do not stop at the interstate and we will cross into another jurisdiction in order to apprehend people that commit these crimes. Most of our local businesses have invested in some very good surveillance systems that produce high quality videos and photographs that enable law enforcement and loss prevention personnel to identify people committing these crimes.

Many of our retail businesses employ loss prevention personnel to help protect their merchandise. They do a very good job in coordinating with us and we work closely with them in identifying and apprehending individuals committing these thefts.

The takeaway from this? It doesn’t matter where you are from or where you intend to run. Chances are that if you commit a theft at one of our local retail businesses, our businesses are doing everything they can to protect their merchandise. They have invested heavily in quality surveillance systems that have greatly enhanced law enforcement’s ability to identify many of these offenders allowing victim businesses the opportunity to sign warrants against the individuals committing these thefts.

You may slip away today with the thought that you got away clean. You may do it multiple times, much like the alleged offender in this case. This morning there was a knock on her door…….and it wasn’t Publisher’s Clearing House bearing good news. Not today. Instead there were two Millbrook police officers with 21 arrest warrants in hand.