Columbus police say two alert construction workers thwarted a would-be shoplifter who tried to steal a pair of tennis shoes from a local department store.
Police said Rex K. Sheffield, 49, of Seale, Ala., stole a $98 pair of white Nike tennis shoes and wore them as he walked out of Kohl’s on Whittlesey Boulevard Friday morning.
A female “loss prevention officer” noticed the theft and chased Sheffield across the parking lot at Columbus Park Crossing South into the Columbus Park Crossing North lot.
Sheffield allegedly ran through a gate behind the Atlanta Bread Company where Griffin Hale and James Carter, working for Alexander Electric, stopped him and waited for police to arrive.
The shoes were returned to the store, and Sheffield was taken to the Muscogee County Jail, charged with theft by shoplifting, providing false information to an officer and violation of Georgia’s Controlled Substance Act.
