Woman not guilty in restaurant theft

A Berkeley Springs woman was found not guilty of breaking into Maria’s Garden following a two-day trial in Morgan County Circuit Court last week.

A jury of seven men and five women found Kimberlie A. Schrider, 22, not guilty of all charges against her.

Schrider was indicted last September for breaking and entering and grand larceny in connection with the theft of a cash register and an estimated $750 from the Berkeley Springs restaurant in March, 2010.

She was also indicted for conspiring with her boyfriend Charles J. Barker, 26, to commit the crime. The charges grew out of an investigation by Town of Bath Police.

Barker testified that while Schrider was with him for part of the evening, she had no role in the break-in. He pled to the crime and was sentenced earlier this year.

Surveillance tapes shown to the jury showed a person entering the darkened restaurant three times that night and taking a money bag and the cash register.

The door had been left unlocked by accident, according to testimony from a woman who worked there that evening.

As soon as the prosecution case was finished, Defense Attorney Robert Stone asked Circuit Judge Gina Groh to dismiss the charges against Schrider due to lack of evidence.

Judge Groh said she was as close to granting the motion for dismissal as she had ever been in a case, but felt it should still be left for the jury to decide.

The defense presented no witnesses before the jury began deliberations and returned the innocent verdict on Wednesday afternoon, November 9.