Marble Falls teacher cited for second shoplifting

By CHRIS PORTER • Daily Tribune Staff

MARBLE FALLS - A Marble Falls High School history teacher suspected in two separate shoplifting incidents spent most of the week after her first arrest in her home battling depression, her attorney said Friday.

Betty Eastwood, 56, has been indefinitely suspended from teaching with pay, attorney Eddie Shell said. The suspension comes after Eastwood was cited for shoplifting at the Marble Falls Wal-Mart Oct. 13. Eastwood also faces theft charges stemming from an arrest at the Marble Falls H-E-B food store Oct. 7.

“She was suspended with pay until these matters are concluded,” said Shell, who plans to represent Eastwood in county court on both charges. “I know that Betty is an awesome, dedicated teacher.”

Marble Falls Independent School District Superintendent Ryder Warren declined to comment on the matter, citing school policy on discussing personnel issues.

According to police reports, Eastwood was cited by police for theft after Wal-Mart loss prevention agents detained her in the store.

“(The suspect) came into the store and removed two individual frappuccino coffee drinks from a cooler, in addition to placing four four-packs of frappuccinos on the bottom of her shopping cart,” the police report states. “(She) then drank one of the frappuccinos while shopping, then hid the empty bottle behind a display case.”

While shopping, the woman hid a bag of almonds in the shopping cart under her purse, the report added.

The woman then proceeded to the checkout, where the police report said she failed to pay for the almonds, the four-packs of frappuccinos and the drink she had consumed earlier.

The woman “had paid for her goods and was pushing her cart away when the clerk noticed the frappuccinos under the cart,” the police report said. “(The woman) paid for those items, but not for the almonds or the consumed frappuccino.”

Loss-prevention agents confronted the woman after she pushed her cart beyond the final point of sale, the report said. She was detained at the Wal-Mart police substation, and Marble Falls Police Officer Tim McIntyre arrived a few minutes later to issue her a citation for theft (less than $50), a class C misdemeanor. The total amount of the items came to $8.74.

The woman was also issued a criminal trespass warning, prohibiting her from entering Wal-Mart again. She was then released by police.

Shell said the incident was a “comedy of errors.”

“She (Eastwood) had been pretty depressed and in the house, and she had gone back to school maybe one day (since her Oct. 7 arrest),” Shell said. “She was actually the one who told the officers about the nuts. When they approached her about the cappuccino, she showed them the nuts that she had just forgotten to pay for.”

Shell said Eastwood’s first arrest at the H-E-B was a similar misunderstanding because Eastwood left her checkbook in her car.

“She was headed to the door, and her intentions were to park the cart by the door and go out to her car to get her checkbook,” he said. “Of course, she hadn’t paid, and that’s when they got her.”

Eastwood was charged with theft (more than $50, less than $500) in that incident, according to police records. She was taken to the Burnet County Jail and later released on a $500 personal recognizance bond.

Shell said the first shoplifting charge will be heard in the Burnet County Court-at-Law at a later date.

The second charge has been filed in the Marble Falls Municipal Court, though Shell said he’ll ask to have case transferred to the county court.

Meanwhile, Eastwood’s supporters say they’ll continue to back her, citing her 30 years of work with Marble Falls students.

“Mrs. Eastwood is, by far, one of the most caring and compassionate teachers at Marble Falls High School,” senior Kaitlynn Whitman said. “She teaches students beyond what the classroom requires, and she is a teacher that any student can go talk to without fear of being judged.”

Whitman said she’s kept in touch with Eastwood after her arrest.

“Mrs. Eastwood is the same person as she was before that happened,” she said. “She cares about the kids as much as she always has.”

Theft (less than $50) is a Class C misdemeanor punishable by a fine not to exceed $500. Theft (more than $500, less than $50) is a Class B misdemeanor punishable by up to 180 days in jail and a fine not to exceed $2,000.

chris@thepicayune.com

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Marble Falls teacher cited
for second shoplifting