Arrests Made by Smithville Police on Theft and Forgery Charges

Several persons have been arrested recently by the Smithville Police Department on forgery and theft charges.
32 year old Sharon K. Skinner of Dowelltown is charged with four counts of forgery.
Detective Jerry Hutchins, Jr. reports that Skinner allegedly forged checks and passed them at Jewel’s Market in Smithville. The total amount of the checks forged was $548.00.
Her bond is $25,000.
Skinner allegedly forged a name on checks on the Wilson Motors account in the amounts of $256 on January 2nd and $175 and $117 on January 5th.
42 year old Eddie LeRoy Taylor is charged with two counts of forgery. He is accused of passing checks in amounts of $175 and $256 at Jewel’s Market on the Wilson Motors account in January.
Meanwhile, 23 year old Melinda Beth Murphy of Smithville is charged with one count of forgery.
Her bond is $10,000
Detective Hutchins reports that on January 21st at PSI on Church Street, Murphy presented to her probation officer a forged instrument showing a prescription she had gotten from a local drug store. The owner of the pharmacy stated that he had not prepared the document or signed it.
25 year old Matthew M. Lawson is charged with theft under $500 and 42 year old Fowler Stoney Ramsey of 906 Rolling Acres Road was issued a citation for the same offense in connection with the theft of a purse from a vehicle at Walmart on Saturday, February 21st.
Bond for Lawson is $1,000 and he will be in court March 12th.
In his report, Officer Travis Bryant states that “On Saturday, February 21st, I responded to Walmart to take a report on a purse, taken from a vehicle in the parking lot. I went into Walmart and reviewed the surveillance tapes and was able to put together a description of both suspects. While I was in the office, an employee of Walmart advised me there were subjects in the parking lot that matched the description of the people (suspects) and he also advised me that the suspects had asked him what the cops were doing. I then went into the parking lot and made contact with the subjects and advised them that I had witnessed them, on camera, steal the purse. I identified the suspects as Matthew Lawson and Fowler Stoney Ramsey. The items taken were reported as a purse containing one ring, one cell phone, one wallet, miscellaneous ID cards, a key, Ipod, camera, and $115 in cash. All items were recovered except for the money.”
40 year old Lisa Fay Gibbs of Dowelltown is charged with theft of property under $500 regarding a stolen purse taken from a customer’s shopping cart at Walmart on Monday, February 23rd. Another woman, 21 year old Heather Marie Griffith of Dowelltown is also charged with theft for allegedly assisting Gibbs in the crime..
They will be in court April 9th. Their bond is $1,000 each.
In his report, Officer Matt Farmer reports that when the victim turned away from her shopping cart in the store, someone stole her purse from the cart. The suspect could be seen on the surveillance video with two purses, but she had entered the store with only one purse. The woman was later identified as Gibbs. The purse was recovered.
Officer Farmer further reports that Griffith assisted in the theft of the purse by keeping the victim’s attention while Gibbs took the purse from the shopping cart.