Hale pleads to forgery, theft

A woman who was ripping off her own parents and a business even as the retailer was paying her medical bills will be on probation for six years after she entered guilty pleas to charges of forgery and theft.

The defendant, Robin Hale, received her sentence from Circuit Court Judge Bart Stanley for her forgery and theft spree late last year which targeted Jewel?s Market in Dibrell. During her probationary period, she will be required to pay back the $4,535 she stole and also perform public service work for the 36 criminal counts she committed.

According to sheriff?s investigator Tommy Myers, who made the case against Hale, the woman used her parents to take her to Jewel?s Market to forge the checks. She reportedly took old checks from her parents and would secretly pass them at Jewel?s.

?There were times her parents even gave her a ride to the market and the employees there thought she had permission to write the checks because they could see her parents sitting outside in the car,? Myers said.

Hale did not have permission to use the checks, Myers noted, adding the entire crime was complicated even more due to an event which happened during the time the crime spree was happening.

?At some point, she fell in the parking lot at Jewel?s Market and broke her arm,? Myers said, noting Jewel?s was paying medical bills for the customer who was well known to employees since she lived just down the road. ?She was still passing these checks while all this was going on.?

While the checks were for smaller amounts, the entire total of the thefts brought the charges up to felony level.