Couple enters guilty pleas

A shoplifting couple from Asheville, N.C., whose flight from a confrontation with a store security officer last June led police to surround stores near the Prime Outlets — Gaffney during the ensuing manhunt, pleaded guilty in separate courts Monday and Tuesday.

John Albert White, 46, pleaded guilty Monday before Circuit Court Judge J. Derham Cole to two counts of a third or subsequent offense of property crime, while Amanda Dawn White, 35, pleaded guilty in Cherokee County Magistrates Court on Tuesday to the charge of larceny.

Because of John White's prior record for property crimes, Judge Cole sentenced him to 10 years imprisonment in the state Department of Corrections, suspended to eight years of imprisonment, followed by three years probation on one charge. John White received a consecutive prison sentence of 10 years suspended to three years, on the second charge.

Amanda White, on the other hand, was sentenced Tuesday to time served. The offense to which she pleaded guilty carried up to 30 days in jail and she had been incarcerated since her June 13 arrest. According to an incident report at the sheriff's office, a security officer claimed he was threatened by John White when he tried to stop White from leaving Hamrick's with stolen merchandise July 13. The store employee claimed John White told him he had a gun and would shoot him.

The Whites then fled on foot from Hamrick's, leaving their vehicle in the parking lot and setting off a manhunt around the outlet mall. At one point, believing the allegedly armed couple had fled into the Rug and Home Store, members of the Cherokee County Sheriff's Office and the Gaffney Police Department surrounded the building with weapons drawn. The Whites subsequently were captured in a nearby motel on Windslow Avenue.

In a written statement to investigators, Amanda White acknowledged she and her husband had stolen five infant outfits from Hamrick's Kids on June 13 and then went to Hamrick's where they were able to take at least one bag of clothing before the confrontation with the security officer.

Both John and Amanda White had initially been booked on armed robbery charges but John White wasn't armed during the incident.