Austell Woman Charged with Stealing Attorney's Items While in Court to Face Theft Charges

After appearing in Cobb County Superior Court last week on theft charges, an Austell woman will now have additional theft charges to face.

On April 18, 37-year-old Rebecca Cooper, also known as Rebecca Simpson, appeared for her status hearing in Superior Court Judge Mary Staley’s courtroom on charges that she stole two gold necklaces worth $2,200 from a woman’s purse in August, according to a report from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

The warrant AJC obtained stated that Cooper then sold the necklaces for $420 to Austell Pawn and gold.

Staley was receiving a plea on another case while Senior Assistant District Attorney Van Pearlberg, the prosecutor in that case, waited outside the courtroom for Cooper’s lawyer, the Marietta Daily Journal reported.

Pearlberg said, from what he understands, the judge stopped the proceedings to admonish Cooper when her phone rang, and a man said he saw Cooper take something.

When they searched Cooper, deputies found a wallet and a journal that had been taken from an attorney’s briefcase, Pearlberg said told MDJ.

Cooper was charged with theft by taking and theft of a financial transaction card, both are felonies. Cooper was taken into custody without incident and released five days later on Monday on a $5,000 bond.

A hearing has been set on May 4 now that Pearlberg has asked the court to revoke Cooper’s bond on the original charges of felony theft by taking and theft by deception.