ACCOMAC — An Accomack County Sheriff’s Office investigator resigned after being charged with 10 counts of stealing energy drinks from a Chincoteague Island convenience store.Jerry Spencer Tarr, 45, of Chincoteague, was arrested and released Monday after a State Police investigation.
He resigned from his position the same day, said Sheriff Larry Giddens.
“It’s one of those things that you can’t really figure out,” Giddens said.
State Police Sgt. Michelle Anaya said Tarr’s shoplifting charges stemmed from an investigation at the Corner Mart convenience store on Maddox Boulevard.
Store officials and employees identified Tarr on 10 occasions in video surveillance taking Five Hour Energy Drinks, she said. State Police Special Agent P.A. Compton investigated the case.
Court records show the incidents happened between Jan. 19 and Feb. 1.
Tarr will be arraigned at 1:30 p.m. March 9 in Accomack General District Court.
Tarr had been employed by the sheriff’s office for three months. He formerly worked for the Chincoteague Police Department.
Tarr formerly had served as the chief petty officer at Chincoteague's Coast Guard Station.
Tarr made headlines in 2006 after he was forced to retire from the Coast Guard after being charged with disobeying orders from a superior when he aided a boat towing an abandoned fishing vessel away from private property and into the Chincoteague Channel.
Witnesses said the vessel in tow had lost control and was in danger of damaging property.
Giddens said Tarr’s work with the sheriff’s office had been well-received.
“He’d done a great job for us,” he said. “He was a great investigator.”
