MOULTRIE — A Moultrie man was apprehended after he allegedly tried to steal items from a grocery store and fled the scene Thursday morning.

Jerry Lovett, 18, of 532 Fifth Ave. S.E., Apt. 4, was charged with theft by shoplifting.

A Moultrie police officer was called to Oxley’s Supermarket on South Veterans Parkway about 11:20 a.m. Thursday about a shoplifter. The officer met with an employee, who stated the alleged thief had fled the store and ran toward Wal-Mart.

The officer began to patrol the Wal-Mart parking lot without success, but he spotted the employee chasing the alleged thief. The officer followed the chase to Antigua Place Apartments on Fifth Avenue Southeast and spotted someone hiding in some dead bushes next to a fence.

The officer pulled out his gun and ordered the person, later identified as Lovett, to come out from the bushes, and he complied. The employee confirmed Lovett was the alleged thief, and he was placed under arrest. The officer found a package of Swedish meatballs on Lovett’s person and a bottle of Boone’s Farm Blue Hawaiian wine in the bushes, which were valued at about $7 and were allegedly stolen from the supermarket.

Arrests

Moultrie Police

• Courtney Lashonda Curry, 20, of 401 Worth St. in Sylvester, was charged Thursday with battery (family violence).

• Anthony Bernard Gamble, 30, of 219 Fourth Ave. S.E., was charged Thursday with battery (family violence).

• A juvenile girl was charged Thursday with disorderly conduct.

• Gregory Lamar Daniels, 17, of 2920 Dave Taylor Road, was charged Thursday with theft by shoplifting. He allegedly tried to steal a pair of toy handcuffs, valued at $3, from Wal-Mart on South Veterans Parkway.

Colquitt County S.O.

• Earnest Lee Blackburn II, 35, of 929 Jonah Tillman Road, was charged Thursday with driving without a license and driving with an expired tag or decal.