An assistant principal at an elementary school in Georgia was arrested after allegedly stealing nearly $1,000 worth of merchandise from a local Walmart.
The Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office (CCSO) said Courtney Janell Shaw, 47, was arrested on Monday, Jan. 19, and charged with theft by shoplifting.
According to the CCSO, deputies were alerted by a Walmart in Woodstock that had compiled a shoplifting case against Shaw. The store alleged the 47-year-old visited multiple times between Nov. 2 and Dec. 31, 2025.
A Walmart employee told deputies that Shaw would “stack items on top of each other” and scan only “one of them.” The employee alleged she would then place both items into a bag or shopping cart and “bypass all points of sale and leave the store.”
Investigators said the assistant principal allegedly took about 98 items totaling $943.97 over the two-month period, according to the report.
Surveillance footage showed the suspect leaving the store in either a gray Jeep or a gray pick-up truck on different days, authorities said. Parking lot cameras were unable to capture a license plate number.
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Deputies later identified Shaw as the suspected shopper and located two vehicles at her home — a 2018 gray Ford F150 and a 2020 gray Jeep Grand Cherokee — that matched the descriptions and photos provided by the Walmart employee, according to the CCSO.
Walmart requested charges be pursued and sought to have Shaw “criminally trespassed” from the store, the sheriff’s office said. She was arrested and booked into jail, then released the same day on a $4,875 bond.
Shaw worked as an assistant principal at Free Home Elementary in 2024, according to Fox5 Atlanta, CBS News and The Cherokee Tribune. The Cherokee County School District confirmed to the outlets that Shaw had been employed at the school and has since been placed on “administrative leave.”
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“Immediately upon these allegations being reported, the employee was placed on administrative leave pending the outcome of internal and law enforcement investigations,” the district said in a statement. “Maintaining the safety and security of our students and staff is our top priority and inappropriate conduct will never be tolerated.”
Shaw has worked in education for more than two decades, according to CBS News. She began her career as a fifth-grade teacher in North Carolina, later worked in Florida, and moved to Georgia in 2006.
