Maids take plea, get 5 days – Two caught stealing prescription drugs

Two maids have made a deal, getting five days apiece for stealing prescription drugs from homes they cleaned.

The defendants, Shonda L. Jacobs and Carol A. Rigsby, entered pleas to three counts of theft and were ordered to serve five days of 11-month, 29-day sentences with the balance of their terms to be spent on probation. The two must also make restitution for the medications they stole. Jacobs must also undergo a drug and alcohol assessment as part of her probation.

The two were caught on camera stealing prescription drugs from a home of one of their clients. The women were house cleaners who worked for several families and were identified as suspects when drugs began disappearing from the homes. Police installed a hidden camera inside one of the homes and caught the women cleaning out a drug cabinet. They were arrested as they were leaving the house, the drugs still in their possession.

‘It took them about 20 minutes once they were inside to get the drugs,’ said McMinnville police investigator Tony Jenkins who set up a video camera inside the home while he hid in a bedroom. ‘We weren’t going to let them leave the area with the drugs, though, because we couldn’t risk them hitting the streets.’

The drugs stolen included painkillers like hydrocodone, Lortab and Percocet, all known in law enforcement circles as some of the most abused forms of prescription drugs.

The women were allowed to plea to the charges since the total worth of the stolen items was less than $500, making the thefts and misdemeanor. Both women are to stay away from the victims.