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Woman admits retail theft incidents

A Luzerne County woman admitted to two retail theft incidents in Carbon County court.

She entered a plea before Judge Steven R. Serfass.Ashley McCartney, 21, of Freeland, pleaded to two counts of retail theft for incidents in Jim Thorpe and Mahoning Township and a charge of disorderly conduct, which was a plea bargain in which another retail theft incident occurred in Jim Thorpe.She admitted taking cookies valued at $1.98 from Tommy's Restaurant in Jim Thorpe on Jan. 28; taking $184.46 worth of merchandise from the Wal-Mart store in Mahoning Township on Dec. 27, 2014; and was arrested on Nov. 18, 2014, at the Jim Thorpe Market for taking a food item and partially eating it before putting it back on a shelf, which resulted in the conduct count.Serfass asked McCartney why all the theft incidents?She replied, "I guess I'm a kleptomaniac."On the first count Serfass placed her on probation for two years, on the second, one year probation, with the terms running consecutively. On the conduct count she was fined $300. Restitution was ordered in the third case of $4.59. Tommy's did not request restitution and the items taken at Wal-Mart were all recovered.She must also render a total of 150 hours of community service, stay out of the three businesses, and attend and complete a course in theft prevention.