'Stupid and hungry and greedy'

| June 28, 2018 3:21 PM

By RALPH BARTHOLDT

Hagadone News Network

COEUR d’ALENE — Sentencing on five counts of burglary for a 25-year-old Kingston woman who drove a Cadillac to a spring shoplifting spree in Coeur d’Alene was postponed Monday pending a presentence investigation.

Callie P. Hall and her 18-year-old accomplice were arrested April 24 at Shopko following an alleged shoplifting spree that included stealing items as varied as vibrators, dog treats, mini pizzas, herbal teas and cosmetics from Fred Meyer, Natural Grocers, Safeway, Grocery Outlet and Shopko.

At Monday’s hearing, Hall pleaded guilty to an amended complaint of one count of burglary, which carries a maximum of 10 years in prison.

Sentencing in Coeur d’Alene’s First District Court, initially set this week, was postponed until Aug. 20.

Police arrested Hall and 18-year-old Colton W. Jones, who Hall said was her child’s babysitter and who police said was dressed as a woman, around 2 p.m. at Shopko on the 200 block of West Ironwood Drive.

Jones, of Kingston, who also pleaded guilty to one count of burglary, told police he and Hall had planned the spree a week in advance, and had driven from Shoshone County to Coeur d’Alene to follow through.

Police found merchandise valued around $500 in the purses Hall and Jones carried, and Jones also carried garden shears used to cut security tags off merchandise.

Hall, a retail worker at Walmart in Smelterville, told police she knew how to avoid security cameras by using customers as shields. She wore a pink dress as she and Jones drove to Coeur d’Alene in a Cadillac DTS that was left in the Shopko parking lot until the couple were released from jail, according to police.

Neither Hall nor Jones had criminal histories.

Stolen items including shrimp, honey, fruit, Nutella, kombucha, sour cream, seaweed snacks and Lunchables were destroyed. Non-perishables were returned to the stores.

Hall told the court she was working on her GED, and that the shoplifting spree was a blunder.

“I got stupid and hungry and greedy,” she said.