Indiana Woman Arrested For Stealing $2K From Self-Serve Corn Stand
A woman in Greenfield, Indiana, is behind bars after being accused of taking money from a self-serve corn stand over several weeks, resulting in a $2,000 loss for the business owner, court documents say.
The police began investigating the theft on September 4th when Hancock County Sheriff's Department spoke with the corn stand's owner.
The owner told police she runs the self-serve stand with her family, and it's set up in front of their home on County Road 600 North. The stand works on the honor system, with customers expected to leave cash in a cash box attached to the mailbox.
According to a probable cause affidavit, the owner told officers that she had caught the woman taking money from the stand on her security video. She told officers it had happened at least two times.
The owner shared the woman's photo to Facebook, asking for the community's help identifying the corn stand thief.
Family members identified the woman as 67-year-old Teresa Kiner, of Greenfield, Indiana.
The owner told police Kiner gave her a call on September 3rd, asking for her picture to be taken off of Facebook. She reportedly denied taking the money at first and then told the owner she had returned $90 back to the money bin.
When police were handed over the security video from the stand, detectives say they counted 18 instances between August 28th through September 3rd where Kiner allegedly took the corn from the stand and then helped herself to money from the money bin.
"I watched the videos and on all of them you can see what appears to be Teresa Kiner come up grab corn and place into plastic bag and then but her hand into the mailbox with the money and on some occasions look like making change," detectives said on the affidavit.
When police questioned Kiner, she told them she had only been to the stand three times this year. She told them she had seen a Facebook post falsely accusing her of being a thief.
As questioning continued, Kiner told investigators she may have had dementia because she is forgetful and someone in her family also had dementia, but she never received a diagnosis.
After being shown three of the eighteen videos of the theft, she told officers "I don't need to see anymore."
Police estimated between $1,000-$3,000 in damages from the cash and product being stolen from the stand.
The owners say they know the total loss is at least $2,000, but could be more.
Kiner was charged with 18 counts of theft.
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