(Stillwater, Okla.) — A woman has been charged with driving her pickup truck in the direction of a Dollar General Store employee in Stillwater who was allegedly attempting to get her to return merchandise that had just been shoplifted.
Nicole Rose Harris, 22, of Perkins, who was released on $5,000 bond following her arrest Tuesday, was arraigned today and ordered to return to court on May 15, court records show.
If convicted of assault and battery with her car used as a dangerous weapon, Harris could be given a 10-year prison term and a $10,000 fine, according to the felony count filed by Payne County First Assistant District Attorney Kevin Etherington last week.
If convicted of the additional count of larceny as a misdemeanor, Harris could be given an additional six-month jail term and a $500 fine, court records show.
“On March 13, 2015, at approximately 7:27 p.m., Nicole Harris and an unidentified female were confronted by an employee of the Dollar General at 1608 N. Cimarron Plaza in Stillwater, as they tried to leave the store with concealed merchandise they had not paid for,” an affidavit alleged.
The employee “had seen Harris and the other suspect selecting and concealing makeup and other items,” Stillwater Police Detective Cody Manuel alleged in his affidavit.
“Harris refused to stop or give back the merchandise. She fled to the parking lot and entered the driver’s seat of a white pickup,” the affidavit alleged.
The employee continued to follow both women and tell them to return the stolen merchandise, the affidavit alleged.
“Harris rolled her window down and began to throw stolen items out the window,” including a candle that struck the employee, the affidavit alleged.
When the employee walked behind the pickup to get the tag number, “Harris reversed the pickup directly at (the employee) who had to jump back to keep from being run over,” but was still grazed by the truck as she tried to get out of the way, the affidavit alleged.
The Stillwater police detective showed a photo line-up containing Harris’ picture to the employee and another worker who witnessed the event, the affidavit said. Both employees “independently picked out Harris as the suspect who drove the truck,” the affidavit alleged.
“I reviewed surveillance video from the store. One of the suspects does strongly resemble Harris. However, the video quality is not high-quality enough to make a positive identification,” the detective wrote in his affidavit.
“Harris has a prior conviction for larceny of merchandise from a retailer in Payne County,” the detective noted.
According to court records, three years ago Harris was charged with two men with shoplifting two Xbox video games valued at $120 from the Walmart on W. Sixth Street in Stillwater on Jan. 4, 2011.
Two months later, Harris pleaded guilty to the misdemeanor count for which she was given a two-year deferred sentence, with an order to serve one weekend in the Payne County Jail, along with paying $150 to the victims’ compensation fund and performing 20 community service hours, court records show.
About a year and a half later, Harris was found in violation of her probation, for which she was given a five-day jail term and a conviction, court records show.
Two weeks before that shoplifting incident, Harris was charged with three others with harboring a runaway juvenile girl by taking her from a Stillwater residence in a vehicle on Nov. 29, 2010, court records show.
At the same time that she pleaded guilty to shoplifting, Harris also pleaded guilty to that misdemeanor count, for which she was given a concurrent two-year deferred sentence, with an order to serve one weekend in jail, take a life skills course and perform 20 hours of community service, court records show.
About a year and a half later, Harris was found in violation of her probation, for which she was given a five-day jail term, court records show.
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