A Milledgeville man with a record of shoplifting ended up in Putnam County jail after he committed the act one too many times, according to police records. He was stopped by store personnel as he tried to leave in a motorized shopping cart.
A few weeks earlier, on Dec.
15, Eatonton Police Department Officer Christian Waldroup responded to Walmart in Eatonton regarding a shoplifting incident in which the shoplifter had already left the store. Waldroup wrote in his incident report that the store’s asset protection coach discovered empty fishing reel packaging on the floor. Security video footage revealed a man, later identified as David Spivey, grabbed the packaged reels from one aisle, took them to a different aisle, opened the packages and took the reels.
Other security video footage showed the man left the store with the reels without paying for them, got in his vehicle and drove away. The license plate of Waldroup’s 2008 Jeep Patriot was captured by security cameras in the parking lot, the incident report reveals.
The items reportedly taken that day included three Lews Reactor fishing reels and one Abu Reel, totaling $314.
Because Spivey already had a criminal history with multiple prior shoplifting convictions, this newest shoplifting charge would be a felony, and a warrant was issued for his arrest.
On Jan. 6, officers Waldroup and Chad Burket went to Walmart after being called about a shoplifter who had been caught. Store personnel had stopped the man as he tried to leave the store on a motorized shopping cart “Upon arrival, I observed the subject who later identified himself as Mr. David Spivey. Mr. Spivey was also identified as the subject who had stolen fishing reels back on Dec. 15th, 2024, but was gone prior to the officer’s arrival,” Waldroup wrote in his report.
The officers discovered Spivey had six NIBO 3800 flashlights hidden inside the front of his pants. He had used a utility knife to cut the flashlights out of their packages, Eatonton Police Chief Howell Cardwell wrote in his report. The total value of the stolen items was $420.
Spivey was barred from the Eatonton Walmart for one year and served a criminal trespass notice. Before going to jail, he was taken to Putnam General Hospital for medical clearance due to some prior health issues and medical devices he wore.
David Jerry Spivey, 60, of Milledgeville, was charged with theft by shoplifting — felony, fifth offense, felony theft by shoplifting, and possession of tools for commission of a crime. He was released on a total of $1,500 in property bonds.