ROCKLAND — A Rockland woman remains in jail for allegedly stealing a purse from a customer who was waiting in line for a store to open on Black Friday. 

Sarah Havener, 31, was charged by Thomaston Police on Nov. 24 with felony theft, criminal trespass and two counts of scheduled drugs. She made her initial court appearance on Nov. 27 in Knox County Unified Court before Judge Susan Sparaco. Her bail was set at $1,000 cash.

According to the affidavit filed in court by Thomaston Police, officers from the department were inside the Walmart store at about 11:30 p.m. on Thanksgiving night, Nov. 23, doing a walk-through to get an idea of the layout of the store for Black Friday shopping. They were notified by the store’s security personnel of a woman stealing a purse from a customer waiting outside in line for the store to open.

The victim told police that she saw her purse in Havener’s purse and recovered it herself. She said that Havener then fled on foot. Thomaston police soon located her at the nearby Tractor Supply store.

Police searched Havener’s purse and found many different bottles, all without labels, with pills. They confirmed that Havener did not have prescriptions for any of the pills, according to the court document.

Havener was arrested and transported to the Knox County Jail.

The charge of theft was elevated because of Havener’s previous convictions for theft in 2015.

She was arrested by Camden Police twice, the first incident occurring in in September 2015 following the break-in of a downtown Camden home where police said she stole multiple items from the home while the resident and a young child were sleeping upstairs. The second incident, in July 2015, was for shoplifting at Renys in Camden after she was caught concealing clothing under the clothes she was wearing and attempting to leave the store without paying for them. Havener was also using a stolen credit card.

Havener was sentenced in October 2015 to three years in jail with all but six months suspended and placed on probation for two years. 

She will appear in court again on Jan. 25 for the recent charges. 

Reach Sarah Shepherd at news@penbaypilot.com