Shoplifting leads to assault charges

BIG LAKE — A man faces assault charges after he struck a Good Samaritan with his car while fleeing from Steve’s Food Boy employees after and his alleged accomplice were caught shoplifting Friday around 6:30 p.m.

“It’s out of the ordinary,” said store manager Jerry Hill.

Hill said he lets customers take home empty boxes as needed, but the boxes the woman Alaska State Troopers later identified as Virginia Stamper, 52, of Big Lake, took out of the store weren’t empty.

“She almost couldn’t carry them they were so heavy,” Hill said. “Usually, I get people who steal some deli food or something like that, but just to blatantly go and jam boxes full of stuff?”

Later, when he reviewed security camera footage, he saw Stamper packing those boxes full of merchandise.

“I watched her stuff, oh, probably $1,000 worth into a box just in one aisle,” he said.

She filled up four boxes, he said, but only managed to get two out to the parking lot before store employees stopped her. Hill said Stamper would not cooperate.

“She just kept fighting,” he said. “I tell my guys if they’re going to fight you just go ahead and let them go.”

Here’s where Alaska State Troopers say the assault charges come in to the picture against Stamper’s alleged getaway driver, Jesse Beebe, 53, of Big Lake.

“A concerned citizen attempted to assist store employees stop the couple and he was struck by the suspect vehicle as it left the parking lot.”

That Good Samaritan was able to get troopers a good description of the van. Troopers pulled it over at 2 p.m., Saturday as it pulled onto Pittman Road from Parks Highway.

Beebe was charged with third-degree felony assault and driving on a revoked license. He was jailed at the Mat-Su Pre-Trial Facility where jail records Monday afternoon showed he remained. His bail was set at $2,500. Though his history in court records is lengthy, they’re all civil matters or low-level crimes. The last time Beebe faced a felony was in 2003 in Kenai, but the case was thrown out.

Stamper also was in the minivan when it was pulled over Saturday. She was summonsed for third-degree theft and released. Her record is shorter than Beebe’s and no less petty.

Hill said this sort of organized shoplifting effort is out of the ordinary. He said the majority of shop lifters are young kids who steal food from the deli.

But even those are problematic because the more it happens the more deli food prices go up.

Lately, he said, Hill has noticed what he thinks is an uptick in thefts at the store.

“I think when times start getting tough more and more people steal,” Hill said.

It’s a fine line he has to walk, maintaining a reputation as the friendly neighborhood grocer while keeping a lid on shoplifting.

“I wish there was a good way to stop every (shoplifter), but that’s impossible,” he said. “All we can do is just make everybody aware.”

Contact reporter Andrew Wellner at andrew.wellner@frontiersman.com or 352-2270.