A South China woman accused of shoplifting about $200 worth of groceries was issued a summons Monday night, police said.

Lou Ann Gedmint, 61, was reported to have walked out of Hannaford supermarket on Elm Plaza in Waterville with a full cart of groceries, loaded the groceries into her car and drove away.

Employees said they attempted to stop Gedmint but she refused and drove away.

Based on a license number seen by Hannaford employees, Officer Timothy Hinton tracked Gedmint to her South China residence, where he interviewed her and decided there was probably cause for a summons, according to Deputy Chief Charles Rumsey of the Waterville Police Department.

Rumsey said police did not remove any groceries from Gedmint’s home.

“It’s hard to distinguish between regular groceries in her residence and ones that were taken from the store,” he said, and noted the groceries could not be reshelved because they had been removed from the store.

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Rumsey said Gedmint claimed she paid for the groceries.

He said police are currently working with loss prevention employees at Hannaford to get a better estimate of the cost of the missing groceries, but said they are still using the $200 estimate for now.

Gedmint was charged with misdemeanor theft and is scheduled to appear in Waterville District Court on Jan. 7.

Kaitlin Schroeder — 861-9252 kschroeder@centralmaine.com


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