Shoplifting leads to jail sentence

Laurie Bell with her attorney, Douglas Stevenson.

By Allison Scarbrough. Contributing Editor.

LUDINGTON — A 50-year-old Ludington woman was sentenced to serve 180 days up front of a one-year discretionary jail sentence, with credit for 156 days served, for a first-degree retail fraud conviction in in 51st Circuit Court Tuesday, Nov. 17.

Laurie Lynne Bell was also sentenced to five years probation. Bell, who was arrested last May by the Mason County Sheriff’s Office for stealing items from Walmart in Pere Marquette Township, pleaded guilty to the charge last month.

She also pleaded guilty to probation violation and received a concurrent sentence of 90 days on Secure Continuous Remote Alcohol Monitoring (SCRAM) and on a tether. She was a wearing tether at the time she committed the offense, said Mason County Prosecutor Paul Spaniola.

Bell testified earlier that she placed items, such as rugs, on the bottom of a shopping cart and took them from the store. She said she paid for her groceries but not the other items.

The nearly $325 in items she stole from Walmart were recovered, Spaniola said.