Bibb sheriff's worker charged with stealing cash from mislaid wallet

A woman accused of stealing more than $700 from a wallet that a man mistakenly left behind at a Macon liquor store earlier this week was identified by police, in part, by the Bibb County Sheriff's Office sweater she was wearing.

The sweater, reportedly visible in security-camera footage, bore sheriff's department patches and helped authorities figure out that the woman works as a civilian employee in the office's records division.

Samantha Hardy, 50, of Warner Robins, was jailed Friday on a theft charge and fired from her job. She was released on $650 bond.

The theft, according to a sheriff's report, happened Monday evening at the Express Package store on Eisenhower Parkway near Houston Avenue.

A 45-year-old Macon man, a customer there, said he left his wallet on the checkout counter by accident. It wasn't until he got home that he realized he'd left his billfold -- supposedly with $740 inside it -- at the store.

The man, Carlos Pitts of Hillcrest Avenue, spoke to the store's owner and asked to see surveillance footage to track down his wallet, the sheriff's report said.

Pitts said he was told he'd have to return with the police to view the video. Three days later, on Thursday, he did.

His wallet was found there but the money was missing, the report said. A sheriff's deputy viewed the footage, which showed Pitts walk up to the counter to pay for something.

Pitts placed his wallet on the counter and a bill fell on the floor. He picked up the bill and walked out, leaving the wallet.

After that, the deputy's report goes on to say, two women walked in. One was wearing a sheriff's department sweater.

The woman in the sweater picked up the wallet, looked inside it and removed "what looked like money and paid for her wine with the money from the wallet," the report said. "She then counts the rest at the counter and leaves ... with the money in hand."

The other woman, who was not identified, "appeared on the video ... (to be) watching out" while the first woman "combed the wallet."

Hardy was arrested shortly before noon Friday.

The report doesn't say whether other woman was considered a suspect.

To contact writer Joe Kovac Jr., call 744-4397.

This story was originally published March 25, 2016 at 4:40 PM with the headline "Bibb sheriff's worker charged with stealing cash from mislaid wallet ."