A former employee of a local department store was arrested on felony charges early Friday for allegedly stealing over $9,800 from the store while working there earlier this year and for reportedly having drugs in her possession.
Katie Ann Taylor, 39, who lists a Matthews Drive address, was taken into custody shortly before 3 a.m. and charged with theft of property over $5,000 and possession of a controlled substance, meth, each punishable by up to 10 years in prison, and possession of drug paraphernalia, punishable by up to six years.
Taylor, who lists no prior felony history, was being held on $9,500 bond and is set to appear on Aug. 4 in Garland County District Court, although she will likely be arraigned sooner if unable to post bond.
According to the probable cause affidavit on the theft, the manager, 36, of Dollar General, 717 Carpenter Dam Road, told Hot Springs police an ex-employee, identified as Taylor, had not made daily store deposits from Jan. 8 to Jan. 13, a total of six missing deposits for a total of $9,847.05.
The manager noted Taylor could be seen on security video taking the money from the store safe and leaving the store.
According to the bank deposit log, Taylor was allegedly using other store employees' names when taking the cash out of the safe. The manager noted Taylor "stopped showing up for work" after Jan. 13.
HSPD Detective Shawn Woodall reviewed the security video and was reportedly able to identify Taylor as the suspect by matching her image to her driver's license photo and social media photos from Facebook and TikTok. He later issued a warrant for her arrest on the theft charge.
Around 2:45 a.m. Friday, Officer Chris Gibson was patrolling in the 3600 block of Central Avenue when he spotted Taylor sitting in a 2005 Cadillac Deville in the parking lot of Walgreen's, 3631 Central, and recognized her as having a warrant.
He made contact with her and took her into custody on the warrant and then conducted an inventory of her vehicle prior to towing. In searching the car, officers allegedly located a small blue bag inside a pink purse in the front seat that contained a baggie with 2.0 grams of what later tested positive for meth.
Officers also reportedly found a set of digital scales with meth residue on the center console. When asked, Taylor reportedly admitted the pink purse belonged to her so she was charged with the additional felony counts.