Two Covington women were charged with shoplifting from the Salvation Army Tuesday afternoon.

Employees of the store watched as two women, later identified as Josephine Gilley Jones and Stephanie Lynn Harris, allegedly removed several pieces of clothing and concealed them in a white purse. When officers questioned the women initially, they both said there were no clothes inside the zipped up white purse.

But when they were separated, the story changed.

Harris reportedly told officers she put clothing inside the purse to pay for later and that was “the way she always shops.”

Jones said she didn’t know there was anything inside the purse, but when officers opened the purse, there were five shirts valued at $13.29 total.

Employees of the Salvation Army told officers that they watched the two walk around with Jones carrying the purse while Harris would remove shirts, take the tags off and put them inside the purse, then zip it closed.

Both women were arrested and charged with shoplifting. The shirts were returned to the Salvation Army.

You can have it back

A Covington man and his wife were charged Thursday afternoon after he reportedly attempted to steal nearly $500 worth of merchandise from Kmart.

Officers stopped the vehicle, occupied by Danny and Misty Spence and their 7-year-old child. When they told Danny why the vehicle was stopped, he reportedly got out of the car and placed his hands behind his back. The family was taken back to Kmart to be identified.

The loss prevention employees told officers Danny left the store pushing a shopping cart containing $499.19 worth of merchandise without paying for it. The items included a motorized scooter, toy dolls, laundry detergent and a hose. As he was leaving, he was approached by employees who requested a receipt. Danny reportedly told them he had left it in the store, but when they tried to get him to come back inside, he allegedly said, “She can have the stuff back,” and left.

Danny was charged with shoplifting and Misty had an active warrant out of Conyers. She was cited for driving on an expired license.