A 45-year-old former co-owner of a Dalton UPS Store, previously charged with stealing Target gift cards intended for tornado victims, is in Whitfield County Jail facing additional stolen-goods charges, authorities said Monday.
Edward Michael Copenhaver, 45, was arrested in Johns Creek on Friday on three felony theft by receiving warrants, according to the Dalton County Police Department.
Police in that North Georgia city issued the warrants last week for Copenhaver and his store employee and companion, Margaret Katherine Carlisle, 26, police said.
The two had been free on bond on prior charges and allegedly vanished earlier this month. Carlisle remains at large.
UPS Store spokesman Brandon Olson said in an email Tuesday that the two no longer are associated with the UPS Store network.
"We don’t take the type of charges filed against Mr. Copenhaver and his former employee Ms. Carlisle lightly. We terminated Mr. Copenhaver’s franchise agreement on June 13," Olson said.
"The two UPS Store locations that Mr. Copenhaver previously owned are under new ownership," Olson said.
Dalton police said that after the couple disappeared, they got a tip that Copenhaver would be in Johns Creek on Friday. They worked with police in that city to apprehend him.
The warrants result from a continuing investigation of the UPS Store in the 1300 block of Walnut Avenue in Dalton.
The couple’s troubles with the law began in May when Alpharetta police arrested and charged them with stealing gift cards that were supposed to be sent from their store to tornado victims in Tuscaloosa, Ala.
On June 10, Dalton police arrested the couple on charges of theft by receiving in a case involving a stolen jacket that had been shipped from the store but never arrived at its destination.
The latest accusations arose from a complaint filed July 11 by a man who told police he had shipped a Macintosh computer and Nintendo Wii game from the UPS Store to his home in California, but the goods never arrived.
A search warrant was secured, and a search of Copenhaver’s home on July 13 uncovered the missing items – confirmed by a check of their serial numbers -- as well as more than 30 bottles of imported wine that had been reported stolen from the UPS Store in separate cases, police said.
Earlier, on July 6, a store employee had turned over 10 Red Box DVDs from the store; they were found to be stolen, police said. During the July 13 search of Copenhaver’s residence, investigators spotted nearly 60 Red Box DVDs.
Police obtained a separate search warrant for the DVDs. But when they returned July 18, officers discovered Copenhaver and Carlisle had moved out with all their belongings. Arrest warrants were issued.
Dalton police ask anyone with information about Carlisle’s whereabouts to contact Det. Ricky Long at 706-278-9085 ext. 168.
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