Madison and Rankin Counties’ District Attorney John K. “Bubba” Bramlett, Jr., announced today that a Rankin County jury found 40-year-old Mario DeCarlos Cole of Meridian, Mississippi, guilty of Felony Shoplifting, Conspiracy to Commit Shoplifting, Use of a Theft Detection Device Remover, as well as Possession of Methamphetamine, Morphine, and Cocaine as a Subsequent Drug Offender arising from the same incident. The jury also found Cole was subject to enhanced penalties as a subsequent drug offender. Cole was indicted as a habitual offender, which significantly increases the potential sentence he faces at his sentencing hearing on May 11, 2026.
On November 18, 2023, at approximately 12:00 PM, Flowood police officers responded to Belk, a department store located at 150 Dogwood Place, due to a report of a male and female shoplifting over $1,000.00 worth of merchandise from the store. With the help of a bystander, officers found Cole and his co-defendant, Ra’Neisha Ja’Mara Lee, who was 19 and also of Meridian, sitting in a car parked in the Dogwood Dollar Tree parking lot. Cole was also in possession of 5.21 grams of Cocaine, 17 dosage units of Morphine, and 23 dosage units of Methamphetamine. While Lee’s case was resolved without a trial, Cole chose a trial by jury in Rankin Circuit Court.
The case was prosecuted by Assistant District Attorneys Greg Miles and Greta Mack Harris…