Stolen Spices, Quarters, Copper, Gift Cards and Fentanyl: Cops

CONCORD, NH - A local woman was charged on a myriad of criminal complaints recently including theft, deception, and drug charges after being arrested for shoplifting last month.

Ashley S. Hodgdon, 24, formerly of Penacook Street in Concord, currently homeless, was arrested on Jan. 24, 2016, on a theft by unauthorized taking charge and two bench warrants. On March 12, 2016, she was arrested again for felony possession of controlled drugs, two theft by deception charges, and theft by unauthorized taking or transfer.

Editor’s note: This post was derived from information supplied by the Concord Police Department. It does not indicate a conviction. Click this link to find out how to get a name removed from a New Hampshire Patch police report.

In the first arrest, on Jan. 24, police were sent to the Hannaford on Fort Eddy Road for a report of a shoplifter who had reportedly fled the store.

• Sign up for news alerts from local New Hampshire Patch sites.

A loss prevention employee attempted to stop the woman but was unable to. The employee recognized her as Ashley Hodgdon and dispatch later stated she was allegedly hiding out in the bathroom at Petco.

The employee and officers went to the pet store and a few minutes after arriving, a woman walked out of the bathroom and reportedly stated her name was Seleen.

“The female matched the booking photograph of Hodgdon and I told her that her name was Ashley Hodgdon and I pointed to the tattoo by her neck area,” the officer alleged. “She admitted her name was Hodgdon and she said, ‘I stole some stuff and it’s still in the bathroom.’”

Hodgdon allegedly admitted to shoplifting about $56 worth of spice bottles in her purse. A female officer went into the bathroom and retrieved the spices that were inside the sanitary napkin dispenser in the bathroom, according to a court affidavit.

Hodgdon had two active bench warrants – one from Hooksett District Court from December 2015 on a criminal threatening charge, $200 cash bail, and another out of Concord District Court from September 2015, on a breach of bail charge, $500 cash bail.

She was held and was arraigned the next day.

Hodgdon was arrested in March after police were sent to Rite Aid on North State Street for a shoplifter in custody.

The officer spoke to an employee who stated that they would be moving forward on a civil case against the woman, later identified as Hodgdon.

A check yielded three warrants and she was arrested and held on $5,000 cash bail.

Drug charge

Here are some of the charges against Hodgdon based on the other police warrants from March.

On Sept. 4, 2015, after Hodgdon was arrested for criminal mischief outside of the police station, an officer took possession of her purse that she allegedly use to damage the windshield of a vehicle before she was arrested.

While conducting an inventory search of the purse, the officer allegedly found two hypodermic needles, a spoon with residue that was inside a piece of paper marked “20,” another piece of paper marked “30,” a needle cap, and four cotton balls. The papers allegedly had white powder residue, according to a court affidavit.

The officer asked if Hodgdon wanted to talk about what was in her purse and she allegedly replied, “You’re a smart cop.” When asked if it was heroin that was on the spoon, she allegedly stated, “Yes.”

A test of the residue on the spoon reportedly tested negative for heroin but the officer alleged that it might be fentanyl and filed the affidavit two months ago.

More theft allegations

On Dec. 15, 2015, a Curtice Avenue resident met with police alleging that Hodgdon had stolen a jar full of quarters and about $100 in cash, medication prescribed to the child she was babysitting, and a stockpile of copper.

The father of the child alleged that Hodgdon was hired through Care.com to help get his child ready for school in the morning and then greet his child getting off the bus and watch the child during the afternoon.

On the day in question, the man alleged that his child’s pills were missing and then, looked around the rest of the house to see if anything else was missing. After doing that, he called police to report the missing money and copper, according to a court affidavit.

The officer learned that Hodgdon was homeless but had previously lived with family on Penacook Street, so he went to the house to see if she was there. The officer reportedly spoke with a relative who stated that Hodgdon took the cooper to Schnitzer to be redeemed.

“(The man) gave Ashley some copper as payment because he did not have the funds to pay her this week,” the officer reported. “(The relative) told me Ashley loaded the copper to his car and he has an account at Schnitzer so they went to Shchnitzer and turned it in for cash.”

The next day, the officer received a call from Hodgdon who reportedly stated that the man said she could take the cooper because he was short on cash. When asked about the jar of quarters, she said the man told her she could take $6 worth of quarters for cigarettes. She denied there was any cash in the jar.

“Ashley told me she did take a little bit more than what (the man) told her she could take,” according to the report.

She estimated it was around $15 worth of quarters but she did not take the entire jar of quarters.

The officer filed an affidavit in January for two counts of theft.

Deception charges

On Feb. 5, police were sent to Walmart on Loudon Road for a report of past tense thefts involving stolen items returned for gift cards.

The officer met with an employee at the store who gave him DVDs of incidents on Jan. 30, and Feb. 3.

In the first incident, a young woman entered the store with a man and they reportedly walked toward the infants department. There, they reportedly selected a breast pump and some medicated wipes, valued at about $179.

“She is then seen with the two items in a plastic bag,” the officer alleged. “They then walk to the front of the store and stand in line at the customer service desk. She then returns the two items.”

According to the employee, Hodgdon’s license was used during the transactions for the allegedly stolen items for gift cards. She then allegedly bought a pack of cigarettes with one of the gift cards and left the store.

Hodgdon reportedly returned a few days later and allegedly did the same thing only this time, reportedly took a breast pump, milk bottles, and a milk bag, about $189 worth of items, gave her ID, and traded them in for gift cards.

An affidavit was filed on Feb. 16.