Taree Jeanetta Bethea v. Commonwealth of Virginia

CourtCourt of Appeals of Virginia
DecidedFebruary 25, 2025
Docket0227243
StatusUnpublished

This text of Taree Jeanetta Bethea v. Commonwealth of Virginia (Taree Jeanetta Bethea v. Commonwealth of Virginia) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Virginia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

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Taree Jeanetta Bethea v. Commonwealth of Virginia, (Va. Ct. App. 2025).

Opinion

COURT OF APPEALS OF VIRGINIA UNPUBLISHED

Present: Judges Malveaux, Fulton and White Argued at Salem, Virginia

TAREE JEANETTA BETHEA MEMORANDUM OPINION* BY v. Record No. 0227-24-3 JUDGE JUNIUS P. FULTON, III FEBRUARY 25, 2025 COMMONWEALTH OF VIRGINIA

FROM THE CIRCUIT COURT OF HENRY COUNTY James R. McGarry, Judge

Brett P. Blobaum, Senior Appellate Attorney (Virginia Indigent Defense Commission, on briefs), for appellant.

Robert D. Bauer, Assistant Attorney General (Jason S. Miyares, Attorney General, on brief), for appellee.

After a bench trial, the trial court convicted Taree Jeanetta Bethea of grand larceny in

violation of Code § 18.2-103. By order of February 1, 2024, the trial court sentenced Bethea to

ten years’ incarceration, with eight years suspended. Bethea challenges the sufficiency of the

evidence to prove the value of the stolen items. She also challenges the sufficiency of the

evidence to identify her as the perpetrator. We find the evidence was sufficient to prove that the

value of the items exceeded the statutory threshold for grand larceny, and to identify her as the

perpetrator, and thus affirm the trial court’s judgment.

* This opinion is not designated for publication. See Code § 17.1-413(A). BACKGROUND

“Consistent with the standard of review when a criminal appellant challenges the

sufficiency of the evidence, we recite the evidence below ‘in the “light most favorable” to the

Commonwealth, the prevailing party in the trial court.’” Hammer v. Commonwealth, 74

Va. App. 225, 231 (2022) (quoting Commonwealth v. Cady, 300 Va. 325, 329 (2021)). This

standard “requires us to ‘discard the evidence of the accused in conflict with that of the

Commonwealth, and regard as true all the credible evidence favorable to the Commonwealth and

all fair inferences to be drawn therefrom.’” Cady, 300 Va. at 329 (quoting Commonwealth v.

Perkins, 295 Va. 323, 324 (2018)).

On December 14, 2020, after learning of a “large push out [theft] of merchandise” from

the Martinsville Lowes store that occurred on December 7, 2020, Brian Hall, a Lowes asset

protection employee, viewed security camera footage and reported the theft to law enforcement.

On December 12, 2020, Will Lawson, a Lowes senior asset protection employee, reported to law

enforcement that two women, who he believed were responsible for multiple shoplifting

incidents, were at the Wytheville Lowes store in a blue Dodge pickup truck. Wytheville Police

Officer Zack Taylor later conducted a traffic stop of a blue Dodge pickup truck matching the

description Lawson had given. Officer Taylor heard alarms coming from the truck’s bed and

ordered Bethea and Adrienne Johnson, the only occupants, to exit the truck. He then observed

stolen DeWalt tools in the bed.

Wytheville Police Officer Umberger arrived at the scene and found six DeWalt tool kits

with activated “security alarm tags” in the truck’s bed, plus a DeWalt tool kit, a Bosch tool kit, a

blue wig, and some of Johnson’s belongings in the rear of the cab. Bethea claimed that she had

not stolen anything that day but admitted being with Johnson during the theft and having

-2- shoplifted with Johnson before in North Carolina. Bethea and Johnson were arrested for the

December 12, 2020 thefts.

A grand jury subsequently indicted Bethea for felony shoplifting concerning the

December 7, 2020 thefts. At trial, the Commonwealth introduced into evidence security camera

footage of the Martinsville Lowes store from December 7, 2020. The footage depicts two

women entering the store, one following closely behind the other, each pushing a shopping cart

and proceeding to the tool department after going in different directions. One woman had on a

long-sleeve pink shirt, surgical-type mask, and a long blue wig under a dark cap, and the other

was wearing blue jeans and a dark hooded shirt. After loading their carts with DeWalt tools, the

women pushed the carts past checkout registers and exited the store. Once outside, the women

loaded the tools into the bed of a red pickup truck, which an unidentified person drove away,

followed by the two women in another vehicle.

At trial, Hall identified Bethea as the woman wearing a pink long-sleeve shirt, mask, and

blue wig in the December 7, 2020 footage. He identified Johnson as the other woman depicted

in the video. Hall also described security camera video that depicted Bethea, who wore a “pink

hoodie” and had “blue hair,” lifting a “security gate” in the tool department and “load[ing] up the

shopping cart.”1 The Commonwealth asked if Hall knew “the value of the items that they took,”

and Hall replied that the “[g]rand total was over [$3,000] if I remember correctly.” Bethea asked

if Hall knew of a “ring of young ladies” stealing tools and other construction materials from

Lowes stores, which Hall did, and how many of those women Hall had identified. Hall replied

1 Hall testified that Lowes had given that video to the Commonwealth, but by the time of trial, the video file was corrupted and unplayable. -3- that he had identified only Bethea and Johnson.2 Bethea asked if Hall had heard the name

“Jamice Lewis”; Hall had not. Hall also identified Bethea in still-frame photographs taken from

security camera footage from the three incidents.

Lawson testified that after the December 12, 2020 incident, he reviewed security camera

video from a December 8, 2020 theft at the Wytheville store. The Commonwealth introduced

into evidence security camera footage from both incidents. The footage from December 8, 2020,

depicts two women walking in the store’s lumber entrance, one wearing a long blue wig under a

light-colored cap, surgical-type mask, light-blue jacket with various torn areas in the fabric, and

dark pants, and the other wearing a dark cap, mask, dark-blue jacket, and blue jeans. The

footage depicts them retrieving empty shopping carts and later pushing carts loaded with boxed

DeWalt tools and other items to the exit without stopping at a register. Lawson identified Bethea

as the woman who wore the blue wig and Johnson as the other woman.

The December 12, 2020 security camera footage depicts two women entering the store’s

lumber entrance, one wearing a light-blue jacket with tears in the fabric. Lawson identified

Bethea as the woman in the light-blue jacket, which he believed was the same one she wore in

the December 8, 2020 incident. He identified the other woman as Johnson. Bethea conceded

that she had pleaded guilty in connection with the December 12, 2020 theft and was depicted in

the footage from that incident.3

2 Bethea asked whether Johnson had pleaded guilty to charges stemming from the December 7, 2020 incident, and Hall confirmed that she had. He had not spoken with Johnson about the theft or the identity of anyone who had been with her. 3 Bethea made these concessions while objecting to the admission of the December 8, 2020 footage because charges stemming from that incident had not been adjudicated. According to Lawson, Bethea was charged with theft for the December 8, 2020 incident but the charge was later nolle prossed. -4- Lawson testified that he was aware of dozens of thefts of DeWalt tools by women. He

knew that Bethea had been convicted of one theft and did not know how many times Johnson

had been convicted. He admitted that women other than Johnson and Bethea had been convicted

for some of those thefts and that some of those women had “the same shape body and build” as

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