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Mother leaves son in lurch after duo’s shoplifting caper foiled
By John ThompsonElizabethton Bureau Chief
jthompson@johnsoncitypress.comA Johnson City woman was accused on Tuesday of using her 12-year-old son to wheel a shopping cart out of Wal-Mart without paying for the merchandise while she waited in her car in the parking lot, then driving off and leaving the boy when he was detained by store security officers.
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Email ArticleMegan T. Cullop, 33, 187 Hidden Oaks Drive, Johnson City, was arrested by Capt. Greg Workman of the Elizabethton Police Department on charges of contributing to the delinquency of a minor, child neglect and theft over $500.
Workman was the responding officer to the store. Following his investigation of the incident, he said Cullop and the boy had been detained by Wal-Mart security when they attempted to exit with merchandise in a shopping cart on Monday. The loaded shopping cart was taken to the customer service section and Cullop and the boy were allowed to leave.
Workman said Cullop and the boy returned to the store on Tuesday. He said she directed her son to retrieve the shopping cart with the merchandise and bring it to her car. The boy followed his mother’s instructions and was stopped by security when he left the store without paying for the merchandise.
Cullop drove away from the store and Workman said her vehicle was stopped on North Walnut Street by Officer Shane Darling just five minutes after Wal-Mart reported the incident.
Workman said the merchandise in the shopping cart was valued at $569.99. The items in the cart included several shower curtains, a large number of bath and hand towels, bath rugs and mats, pillows, poster frames, posters, candles and a bottle of Kaopectate.
Darling said he stopped Cullop’s Ford Taurus after hearing a 911 bulletin. After confirming that the vehicle was the one seen at Wal-Mart, Darling checked Cullop’s license and determined her license had been revoked because of a 2006 driving under the influence case.
Darling placed Cullop under arrest and charged her with driving on a revoked license. While inventorying the vehicle before having it towed to the impound lot, Darling said he found two pill bottles in Cullop’s purse.
In one of the bottles Darling found three different types of pills. Some of the pills were for Alprazolam, which matched the prescription on the bottle. The other pills included 15 Xanax and nine Lortab for which there was no prescription..
Following the search, Cullop was also charged with simple possession of Schedules III and IV drugs.
Cullop appeared in Sessions Court on Wednesday. She was appointed a public defender and her bond was set at $3,500. Her next court appearance is set for Aug. 11.