A 21-year-old man fled Walmart, leaving 136 stolen packs of gaming cards in a shopping cart behind him. Walmart officials alerted the Covington Police Department.

Three other men in the party identified the man as Chad Robertson. But after finding the man — who had fled on foot to the wooded area behind Little Phillies on Industrial Boulevard — police later identified him as having a different name than the group reported: Nicholas Hartley.

Hartley admitted to the theft, which amounted to $937.28, and was taken back to Walmart with the other three males.
Two of the men in the group wore clothes with marijuana references. Officers asked Christian Blake Cates, 22, for consent to search his vehicle. After his refusal, officers ran a K-9 around the vehicle. The dog alerted to the presence of narcotics and officers began a search.

Police found the following inside: two zip lock bags of yellow pills believed to be Xanax, one pill bottle containing approximately 90 Buspirone HCL tablets, one jar containing a substance believed to be marijuana, an “unknown white substance” and a ROHM .38 Special Revolver.

Hartley was arrested for shoplifting, possession of a controlled substance with intent to distribute, trafficking narcotics and possession of a firearm.

The three other men – Cates, Steven Chalmers, 18, and Joesi Simpson, 24 – were arrested with the same charges Hartley, but including obstruction.

Deputies also searched and found several licenses and social security cards belonging to other individuals on Simpson’s person.

No charges for gun in public drunkenness call

An officer arrested James Zellers, 29, of Jonesboro on a public drunkenness charge at The Depot Sunday night.

When another officer came to transport Zellers to jail, he informed the officer he had a gun in his waistband. The gun was a small folding revolver that was missed in the first frisk.

No charges are being held against Zellers for the firearm, which police placed in safe keeping.