By Liz Shepherd
InkFreeNews

Bruce Edward Yeazel

ETNA GREEN — An Etna Green man was recently arrested after allegedly stealing merchandise from Lowe’s.

Bruce Edward Yeazel, 34, 105 N. Etna St. Apartment 42, Etna Green, is charged with two counts of theft, both class A misdemeanors; and two counts of theft with a sentence enhancement, both level 6 felonies.

On Dec. 23, 2022, a Warsaw Police officer responded to a theft at Lowe’s. An employee said he was working in the store when his personal Carhartt jacket and a pair of mechanic’s gloves were stolen from his work station.

According to court documents, upon reviewing surveillance footage, the employee saw a man grab his jacket and place it into a shopping cart on top of two boxed items from the Lowe’s store.

The man, later identified as Yeazel, went to the store’s return desk, where he returned the two boxed items that were never purchased and received a gift card with store credit.

On Jan. 15, 2023, the officer interviewed Yeazel about the incident. Yeazel initially denied shopping at Lowe’s but later admitted to stealing the jacket because he thought it didn’t belong to anybody. He also said he gave the mechanic’s gloves to a relative. The officer was able to recover the jacket from Yeazel’s residence.

Yeazel has a prior conviction for theft in Kosciusko County from October 2016.

Yeazel was booked in the Kosciusko County Jail on Feb. 28, with a $5,500 surety and cash bond.