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One humiliation after another

They were accused of shoplifting at Winn-Dixies, then exonerated. Now comes, in their eyes, a pittance of an offer.

By WAVENEY ANN MOORE
Published February 1, 2006

ST. PETERSBURG - Clara Woodard and Kathy Germack say they're still traumatized five years after being falsely accused of shoplifting by the Winn-Dixie supermarket chain.

It's why the two St. Petersburg women are refusing an offer to settle the suits they filed against the Jacksonville supermarket chain, now in Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings.

The women say the $2,500 being offered to each is a paltry sum for the humiliation and continuing shame the accusations have caused. Germack, 44, who was accused of stealing a $2.58 package of false fingernails, said Winn-Dixie's offer was "ridiculous."

And Woodard, 61, accused of taking an umbrella, said: "Justice is not for all. If you don't have money or power or you don't know the right people, you're just left out there."

Winn-Dixie will not discuss the matter. "We don't comment on pending litigation or even settled cases," said Terry Derreberry, spokeswoman for the chain.

Patton Youngblood, the women's Tampa attorney, said Winn-Dixie is ready to wrap up the case.

"My perception is that they don't want this looming around with their new image. They are starting over," he said, referring to the fact that the supermarket chain is expected to emerge from bankruptcy this summer.

"I just feel that they owe these people much more than offering them a nominal amount of money," said Youngblood, adding that bankruptcy might not protect Winn-Dixie from the women's lawsuits.

This week Woodard said she will never forget the June day five years ago when she was accused of stealing a $6.96 black umbrella at the now shuttered Winn-Dixie at 850 Third Ave. S. She was interrogated, arrested and booked into the Pinellas County jail.

Woodard's father - Joseph E. Savage, who led the city's historic, four-month sanitation workers strike in 1968 - a granddaughter and great-grandson watched helplessly as she was taken away.

"All these people out there are looking at me . . . my father sitting there, trembling all over," Woodard said during an interview days after her arrest. "This is something, until the day I die, I've got to live with."

The state attorney's office decided not to charge her after a videotape from a downtown bank, where Woodard had made a small deposit from her housekeeper's earnings earlier that day, showed her with the umbrella before she entered the supermarket. A spokesman from Winn-Dixie's headquarters apologized a week after the arrest.

Germack's trouble occurred in October that same year, after shopping at the Winn-Dixie at 1049 62nd Ave. N. After spending $66.97, she was preparing to leave the store when the security alarm sounded.

Nothing was found in her cart that would have set off the alarm, but employees checked her handbag and found the package of nails in a cosmetic case. Germack said she tried to explain that she had bought the nails earlier and that the package had been opened.

In fact, she said, several nails were missing. She refused to sign a form admitting she had stolen the item, and the manager called police. As in Woodard's case, the state attorney decided not to charge her.

Around the same time, retiree Stecil Ferguson was also accused of shoplifting at the now closed downtown Winn-Dixie. She was charged with stealing a tube of lip balm and vial of ointment, but fought the accusation in court and won.

Ferguson, now 80, said she had forgotten that she had placed the items in her pocket for safekeeping during a stop to check her blood pressure. She said she became distracted after hunting in her purse for pen and paper to record her blood pressure and trying to make sure all of her purchases were bagged.

There was one significant difference in the way the women were handled. Ferguson and Germack, both white, were ordered to appear in court later. Woodard, who is black, was taken to jail.

The St. Petersburg Police Department said then that the arresting officer determines how each person is handled.

Each woman vowed never to shop at Winn-Dixie again. On Tuesday, Ferguson recalled the long bus ride to court and "the embarrassment when they initially accosted me, claiming that I was a thief."

No lawyer would take her case against the store, she said. "I just let it drop and I said: If fortune shines on me, I'd see this store go down."

Germack, who has two daughters, 14 and 17, said the shoplifting accusation has left her paranoid.

At first she couldn't sleep, she said, and now has adopted a variety of strategies to ensure she is never similarly accused. She added that each year she is embarrassed when she has to fill out forms to volunteer at her daughters' schools.

"They ask if you've ever been charged with a crime," she said. "I feel like a low-life."

Immediately after her arrest, Woodard felt too ashamed to go to church, she said. She has returned.

"That's what keeps me going," she said. "Sometimes I get better, but then it comes back to you, like it just happened."

Times researcher Caryn Baird contributed to this report.

Motions can be filed to seal and expunge, or erase, a record. The primary reason for expunging is to remove it from public view. Motions to seal records are particularly made in cases involving children.

A person can file a motion to expunge an official record relating to an arrest, but the Florida Department of Law Enforcement would retain the records and make them available to other law enforcement agencies.

If the motion is opposed, a hearing would be held.

Source: Hebert Law Group, Clearwater.

[Last modified February 1, 2006, 01:03:19]