A former Grocery Outlet employee caught stealing last year faces up to three years in prison after a misdemeanor theft charge was compounded to a felony drug charge when she was being booked into jail.
According to court documents, a Bonners Ferry police officer was dispatched to the store at about 7:07 p.m. September 2, 2024, after store owners reported the theft. On arriving, they told the officer that they had seen cashier Jennifer Ingrum, 42, walk out of the employee lounge with grocery items she hadn’t paid for and walk to her car.
Sitting down with Ingrum, she admitted to the theft before he had a chance to say anything, saying “I stole from them.”
After being advised of her Miranda rights, she gave a “confusing and contradictory” story, admitting that she had used her position as cashier to steal, that she would deliberately not scan some items before she would take them to her car, that she didn’t want to hurt anyone by stealing and more.
She then took the officer to her car, where he was able to retrieve some of the items listed on a receipt totaling $130.53.
Back in the store, the owners signed a citation and a citizen’s arrest form and Ingrum was taken into custody on a charge of petit theft, her eighth dating back to 2002. She was convicted on four of them.
Taken to jail, a search turned up six oxycodone and two buprenorphine pills, resulting in a felony and a misdemeanor charge of possession as well as a charge for bringing the drugs into the jail.
In a plea agreement, she pled guilty to the charge of felony possession and the other three charges were dismissed.
On August 20, she was sentenced to one year in prison, determinate, two years indeterminate, suspended, 30 days in jail with credit for four days served, $577.50 costs and three years felony probation with electronic monitoring.