Respected Leader Busted for Shoplifting

CARROLLTON, Texas - Friends and loved ones of a respected Denton County politician are surprised by her recent behavior. The woman who has a government building named after her was jailed on shoplifting charges.

Police said 63-year-old Sandy Jacobs is accused of stealing from a Super Target store in Lewisville on Tuesday.

A security officer spotted her taking a Dyson vacuum cleaner, valued at about $320, into a restroom. She allegedly removed the plastic security devices and left the store without paying, police said.

The officer confronted Jacobs outside the store, where she repeatedly apologized, according to a probable cause affidavit.

Many are shocked by the news. Jacobs is a well-known Denton County community leader.

She served as a Carrollton City Council member for two terms after 1978 and then served for 24 years as a county commissioner. Denton’s government center is even named after Jacobs.

“For a woman of her character and for someone that we’ve known for so long in the neighborhood, it’s just unbelievable,” said neighbor Carole Casteel.

Jim and Maxine Fields saw their neighbor on the news and thought someone had stolen her identity.

“She couldn’t have done this. We just thought this cannot be. This is not our Sandy,” they said.

But police said Jacobs admitted to taking the vacuum along with a baby toy, teething ring and several wrapped granola bars.

The affidavit states she told the security officer she said she has never done anything like it before.

“I’m on medication and that might be the reason I took the vacuum,” she said. “I wanted to see if I could get away with taking it and probably would have gotten to my car and turned around.”

Jacobs was charged with misdemeanor theft of over $50 and under $500. She is now out of jail on $1,000 bond.