Former grocery store employee charged with theft

A former employee of an Anniston grocery store has been charged with  stealing $6,000 from the store over a five-month period.  26 year old Stephanie Brooke Shelton of Anniston has been charged with felony first-degree theft. Earlier this month employees with a Winn-Dixie on Golden Springs Road filed a police report stating they noticed discrepancies in their audits. The store discovered Shelton was creating fake returns and pocketing the money.  Police said the store’s video surveillance footage showed Shelton making the transactions.  Shelton was fired from Winn-Dixie after the investigation and a warrant was taken for her arrest.  Shelton has been released on a $5,000 bond

Police investigating reported abduction of Gadsden teen

Gadsden police say A 16-year-old Gadsden City High School student was assaulted and held against her will overnight at the James D. Martin Wildlife Park & Walking Trail behind the Gadsden Mall.  The victim told police a 23-year-old man, who is a friend of hers, picked her up from school Wednesday afternoon. She said they drove to the park, walked to a park bench and sat down. The victim said they started to argue and the man began to slap her around and also scratched her arms.  The victim said she  tried several times to leave but the man restrained her, She said the two of them slept on the bench overnight. Thursday morning, she got away by kicking the man in the groin and then ran to a friend’s house on Tennessee Avenue, where she called police.

Change in hunting regulations

The state conservation agency is revamping a new program that requires hunters to report all the deer and turkey they kill to the state.  Officials say hunters will now have 72 hours to report kills rather than the 24-hour time limit that was initially planned. The change comes amid complaints from state Sen. Paul Sanford of Huntsville. He says the 24-hour time limit was too strict for hunters who might be in the woods away from telephone lines or cell phone signals. Biologists say they need the information to help manage wildlife in the state and make sure animals are healthy. They say they hope to develop almost real-time reporting to help hunters know what's going on in the woods.

Bow season for deer opens Oct. 15.

Police searching for suspect involved in police chase

Police are searching for suspects in connection with the theft of a van which led police on a high-speed chase early Friday morning.  Rainbow City Police attempted to stop the van near 1 Friday morning for an equipment violation.  The van, registered to the Rainbow City Church of Christ pulled over, then took off, leading police on a high-speed chase.  The vehicle was abandoned at the end of Country Lane, inside the Rainbow City limits, and the driver fled on foot. The report said it appeared the van was stolen from the church’s lot. The vehicle was released to the church’s pastor.

Oxford police arrest anniston woman after assault

Oxford police have arrested a 43 year old Anniston woman for allegedly assaulting a 66 year old woman with a tire iron at an oxford hotel.  Rosey Ann Davis, has been charged with felony second-degree assault.  Oxford police say that Davis went to the Hampton Inn and Suites on Colonial Drive in Oxford Tuesday afternoon and entered the lobby of the hotel carrying the tire iron.  Davis then  attacked the 66-year-old woman at the hotel desk with the tire iron. The victim suffered several bruises on her arms and was bleeding from the back of her head when police arrived. The victim was able to wrestle the tire iron away from Davis, and Davis fled the hotel before police arrived.  The victim was taken to Regional Medical Center.  Police were able to identify Davis from the hotel’s video surveillance footage.  Davis is dating a man who until last week was employed by the hotel. Police found Davis at the her boyfriend’s home.

Gadsden man indicted on sex abuse charge

Bryan Keith McDaniel

A 53 year old Gadsden man, arrested in April on charges of stealing from a local shoe store is now facing charges for allegedly molesting a child who slept over at his house.  Bryan Keith McDaniel, was indicted earlier this month by an Etowah county grand jury on felony charges of sexual abuse of a child less than 12 years old, first-degree theft of property and computer tampering.  McDaniel was served the indictments and arrested on Wednesday.  The sex-related charges stem from an incident that allegedly happened at his home 11 to 12 years ago, when the victim was 11 years old. There is no statute of limitations for sexual abuse of a child younger than 12.  The theft charge stems from an incident on Aug. 23, 2011, when McDaniel allegedly stole $10,900 worth of Red Wing shoes from Hicks’ Family Shoes, his former employer. The computer charge alleges that on March 7, he deleted the company’s website, Facebook page and emails.  Police said the total loss to the shoe store over the years was in excess of $100,000.