A man from Fort Wayne faces charges for allegedly stealing $65,000 worth of jewelry from a JCPenney store in Hobart
Matthew Popplewell, who’s 50, got hit with charges for burglary, theft, and auto theft. The cops were called out to the mall early on November 6 because of a security alarm. When they got there, they found the door smashed.
Security footage showed a guy on a bike breaking the glass door at around 2:22 a.m. He hung around for a bit before heading upstairs with a white bag to the jewelry section.
Later that day, around 11 a.m., police went to an apartment in Merrillville after a woman reported her Toyota Rav 4 stolen. They spotted the car speeding on the highway and chased it down, eventually catching Popplewell in Chicago. The car was pretty banged up, with airbags deployed.
Inside the car, they found six gold necklaces and one silver necklace, all with tags still on them. They also discovered some clothes, a drug pipe, a JCPenney shopping bag, and a cellphone. The cops called 911 to check the phone number and linked it to Popplewell through jail call records.
Interestingly, store employees later found another necklace just lying on the floor. When questioned, Popplewell claimed he was high on cocaine and Xanax but denied stealing the jewelry. He agreed to a DNA test.
His Uber account showed he booked a ride to the mall the night before, and his phone had searches for “Price of scrap gold” and “Southlake mall hours.” Quite the story, huh?
