The Case of the Missing Ps – pants, perfume, purrs and pills – was solved last week using the watchful eyes of the new surveillance system at the Greene County Community Center.
The new system had been “live” for only a week before rec center staff and the Jefferson Police Department had a chance to prove how useful it can be.
According to the JPD daily report for last Thursday, a community center member reported at 6:56 am that a pair of jeans and perfume had been taken from her gym bag in the women’s locker room.
The new system records, and Jefferson park and recreation director Vicky Lautner said it didn’t take Hollywood sleuthing to find a suspect. The JPD officer who handled the call recognized the suspect on the recording and got a search warrant for her residence.
At the suspect’s home, JPD officers found not only the missing jeans and perfume, but a young white and yellow cat that was reported stolen from the animal shelter on May 22, items that were stolen from the Greene County Medical Center emergency room on May 18, and prescription pills for which the suspect had no prescription.
Kimberly Ann Nelson, 38, of Jefferson was charged with theft-fifth degree for the pants and perfume and for the purring cat, and with unlawful possession of prescription drugs. There were also outstanding Greene County arrest warrants charging her with theft-fifth degree, and she was arrested on those, too*.
More charges are pending completion of the investigation.
The surveillance system cost $6,599.75. A $3,300 grant from the Greene County Community Foundation covered half, with the remaining coming from the portion of the hotel/motel tax fund earmarked for recreation.
Lautner was happy to be able to show so quickly the merits of the updated system. “If the word gets out not to mess around here, that’s good,” she said.
*All charges are merely an accusation. All defendants are presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.
