Man Gets Ten Years for Shoplifting; Sentence Suspended to 30 Months House Arrest

Curtis J. Bearden was sentenced Wednesday after he was convicted in a shoplifting incident that happened in September 2017 at the Seneca Wal-Mart. But it wasn’t until six months later, in March of 2018, that a deputy took out a warrant for Bearden’s arrest. When asked why the wait, the Deputy said that the case was delayed after a fire in the jail destroyed the evidence, which forced investigators to rely only on security footage, from which the Deputy said he recognized the suspect. Bearden received a ten year sentence that was suspended to thirty months house arrest and five years probation. Bearden was accused of stealing a wire mesh strainer, and did not testify during the trial.