She's peeling off stickers and putting them on stickers since 6:00. Jeez. What did I do wrong? Am I going TO JAIL? STOP. YOU'RE GOING TO GET TASED. YOU BETTER STOP. MY KIDS. KIDS. I'M SO SORRY. PUT YOUR HANDS behind your back. I'm sorry. >> Put your hands down now. That's for sure. On November 20th, 2024 in Houston County, Georgia, Amanda Barber spent 6 hours switching price tags at Walmart, paying $15 for $78 worth of merchandise. A voluntary admission of flight and a prior record turned a minor theft into a 10-year felony sentence. How are you? Good. They're starting early, huh? What she did is she pulled a lot of tags from the socks. She stuck them on the watches and stuff. And then now she's um she's peeling off stickers and putting them on adult clothing. That's what she's doing. She's been doing this since 6:00. Jeez. Maybe she thought if she got here early enough, y'all wouldn't be here. Maybe. I don't know. How you been? I'm good. All the work that we have to go do just to go separate our fish out what was stolen and what was not stolen. Goodness. So, do you want me to go ahead and grab her and No, that's it. I guess we'll wait till she goes through it up. I told them once she gets to the register, leave her alone. She might be getting ready now. She has more than that. She just put a lot of stuff back. I think her bag was not half full. I'm saying the altering tags is enough for us. See, they're on watches, on the jewelries. The second officer arrives to assist and is also surprised with the technology this Walmart has. Been here since 6:00 in the morning. Good lord. See, that's one. She added something on that. She stuck something in there. Are you able to see the whatever she's scanning? In addition to cameras, loss prevention also has the ability to remotely view the price of every item that is scanned across the registers. See, that has a different tag over there. See, $1, $1. That to get the leg. Based on that, it's 29. So, maybe she didn't she didn't mean to go scan that $30. Call and tell them to let them know leave her alone. She took that $30 one. She She can see it now. It's a boy's t-shirt for $3.99. Walmart don't play. This one she didn't get a chance to go and change the tag on this one. So, is that stuff that she's not going to ring up? Yeah, cuz she took some tags out of this clothing right here. She had more than that. She had more than that. Now she want to pay cash. So, are y'all just going to count towards her theft the things that she rung up and altered like the boy's tee? Do y'all do like the difference or do y'all do the total? Well, what we do is we refund whatever she scanned and then I will charge her with the one The full price of the pants. I guess she's still debating. What else do you want to Yeah. She left a dollar. She left a dollar. All right. Let's go nab her. All right. Let's see what she got. Let's wait till they verify. Yeah. Walmart central. Yes, officer. You want to come with us? Why? Why? What did I do wrong? We can go speak in the office. We can go speak in the office. >> Okay. Sir, I'll take this with us. All right. We'll just leave it here for right now. Am I going to jail? We'll talk in the office over here. Under OCGA Section 16-8-14, price tag switching with intent to underpay constitutes shoplifting by deception. Loss prevention waited for Barber to clear the final point of sale, eliminating any intent to return defense and establishing completed theft beyond reasonable doubt. Initial contact was a Terry stop under Terry versus Ohio 1968, requiring only reasonable articulable suspicion. Miranda does not apply here under Berkemer versus McCarty 1984. Barber's spontaneous admission was fully admissible without any rights advisement. Have a seat, ma'am. Have a seat right here. No, all right. Do you have an ID card, ma'am? No, ma'am. What did I do wrong? I didn't steal anything. You changed tags, didn't you? I did. Ma'am, please don't press charges. I will I got the kids, everything coming up. Please, ma'am, don't >> your ID? I don't. Do you want What's your name? Please don't make me go to What's your name? Amanda Barber. Pardon? Stop. YOU'RE GOING TO GET TASED. YOU BETTER STOP. MY KIDS. KIDS. I'M SO SORRY. >> behind your back. >> sorry. Put your hands down now. That's for sure. Will I get a Stop. >> I'm so sorry. >> Stop moving. I'm so sorry. I'm going to definitely going to jail. Stop moving. >> I'm so sorry. Will I get a bond when I get there? Did you grab my body cam? Yeah. Please don't make me go to jail, though. You ran. I promise. Please, the kids, the holidays coming up. That's on you. I'm going to jail right now. Oh, yeah. Will I get a bond? Sure. Today, will I get a bond? Hey, hold her real quick. >> Can I bond myself out? Stop asking questions right now. Would y'all have really taken me to jail even if I wouldn't ran? >> [snorts] >> Well, you lost the possibility of that. We don't know. That would have been on her. If it was just some pants, probably not. >> [panting] >> Can I call someone to come get >> Nope. You can wait. Do y'all let people bond themselves out? I'm sorry I ran, y'all. Do you just want to put her in the back of my car? No. I can't get back in your You sit with her. Can I get back in your No. You're going in the car. I'm sorry. Have a seat. Can I bond myself out with that money? Look, this is going in your pocket. Yes, sir. And I'm giving him this. Okay. That's what you left in the machine. Stupid. When Barber fled, she triggered OCGA Section 16-10-24 obstruction. Willful flight during lawful detention is sufficient. Physical resistance is not required. Under Illinois versus Wardlow 2000, unprovoked flight independently supports probable cause and functions as a sentencing aggravator. Dispatch confirmed Barber was banned from all Walmart properties, meaning criminal trespass under OCGA Section 16-7-21 was already complete before the first tag was switched. The decisive factor, however, was her criminal history OCGA Section 16-8-14. Subsection C, a fourth shoplifting conviction, is a felony carrying 1 to 10 years regardless of dollar amount stolen. Barber had three prior convictions. The dollar value became legally irrelevant the moment her record was confirmed. The taser warning during pursuit was justified under Graham versus Connor 1989. The court considered four aggravating factors: criminal trespass, obstruction, extensive prior record, and active flight. Maximum sentence imposed, 10 years. Loss prevention, A minus methodical surveillance, legally sound tactics, ironclad evidence. Officers B plus calm contact, proportional force, professional handling. Deduction on both flight risk indicators were visible. Better positioning could have prevented the pursuit. Amanda Barber D, each decision compounded the last. Three takeaways. In Georgia, a fourth shoplifting conviction is a felony regardless of theft value. Flight never improves a legal position. It adds charges and aggravates sentencing. And any voluntary statement made before custodial arrest is fully admissible. Silence is always the safer choice. Obstruction. Before the officer is able to leave the parking lot, police at the department relay yet another critical charge against her. Amanda Barbara out of LJ is valid, negative. She's showing 25 years of all and a PTO that states she is banned from Walmart on Watson. And trespass. Is that another charge? Yeah. There. You're already banned. >> Walmart. You knew you were trespassed from Walmart. Good God. I'll leave this unlocked. All right. Is that her? Yeah. She was trespassed already. So, we'll get her for the trespass. So, you got I I can't access her old file. I just have She was on our old AP's case. Mhm. I remember her years ago. Years ago. She's on this service. When her baby was a little, she was stealing like makeup and stuff like that. And we sent her to jail, too. Years ago. Are they getting the amount? >> Yes. Yeah, they're doing the amount now. It's too early for this. Too early. You got I messed it up. Just something dumb. Why would you go and run? So, why did she stop over here? I guess cuz she can't cross over there. Uh I told her she was going to get tased. Oh. >> I wasn't going to, but that usually gets them. They stopped. Yeah. She took off running. She crazy. Too early. Right through already for that. Am I going to jail? You are now. You are now. >> You actually had a chance to not. You You have You have more um Thank you. You got it. You want me to do Oh, I still have to do her refund. Do you want me to take an account for all of the tags that she tore off? Or just the attempted? Um just the one that is went through the register. And I I need those merchandise, too. The one that she stole. That was in her pocket. Okay. So, 78.86. So, she's trespassed, too? Yep. Yeah, this is 8 years ago. When they got her. So, she's been coming in here. She She looks different, though. Yeah, well, like she was banned from a lot of stores, like Academy and I think Target. Yeah. I mean Just so you know, we we don't You don't have to go burn anything on the disc. You can You can do our file. Yeah, that sounds good. Cool. Thank you so much. >> Thank you. Have a good day. Same to you. Yeah. No more today. You did too much. Or at least wait till after lunch. Okay. Say yeah. We're good. Hey. You want to do this? It's too early for this. What do you mean? Did you give her slides back? I put them in the front Oh. Why? I don't know. On the floorboard? Yeah. All right. Yeah. That coffee's not really agreeing with me now. I already get some more. I can't even get a drink in here. Yeah. What about the bond today? I don't know, ma'am. That That's something that the jail and the courts deal with. I'm I don't do that. You'll find out when you go to Perry. Take these off the cart. We will when we get in there. Keep me updated. I've been home house All right. I want to run over there. Loss prevention. A minus methodical surveillance, legally sound tactics, ironclad evidence. Officers B plus calm contact, proportional force, professional handling. Deduction on both flight risk indicators were visible. Better positioning could have prevented the pursuit. Amanda Barbara D, each decision compounded the last. Three takeaways. In Georgia, a fourth shoplifting conviction is a felony regardless of theft value. Flight never improves a legal position. It adds charges and aggravates sentencing. And any voluntary statement made before custodial arrest is fully admissible. Silence is always the safer choice. Let us know if there is an interaction or legal topic you would like us to discuss in the comments below. Thank you for watching.