Original Blog Entry: Priest arrested for stealing butter from Wal-mart

truesee — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 22:36:26 GMT

Christopher priest arrested for felony theft

Danny Malkovich

Benton Evening News

Mon Jan 25, 2010, 01:42 PM CST

West City, Ill. -

A Catholic priest from Christopher was arrested at 4:49 p.m. on Jan. 21 on alleged shoplifting charges at the Wal-Mart SuperCenter, according to West City Police.

The Rev. Steven F. Poole, 41, faces two counts of felony theft over $150.

He serves as priest for St. Andrew's Catholic Church in Christopher and St. Mary's Catholic Church in Sesser.

Poole, who has a previous arrest for stealing in Missouri, was arrested after Wal-Mart store surveillance video caught him on camera failing to scan a $3.22 container of butter and a $60 sofa cover, police said.

Police said Poole then allegedly headed to the store's bedding department and picked up a memory foam mattress. He returned to the self-checkout lane where he was allegedly observed on tape switching the pricing bar code, causing the $144.88 item to be scanned for $30.88.

Loss prevention personnel then stepped in, police said, and accompanied him to the West City Police Department.

There Poole was found to be in possession of a laptop computer power pack, also allegedly taken from store, police said.

Poole was taken to Franklin County Jail where he was released on personal recognizance.

... [ More ]