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Eric Garcia

Washington Bureau Chief

An Olympian was arrested after a debacle at a Walmart self-checkout station.

On 28 March, former Olympic athlete Meaggan Pettipiece’s life was turned upside down after scanning her ham and asparagus at a Walmart self-checkout machine in Indiana. After security saw she failed to scan the items — worth $67 — they called the police, even though she paid $176 for the other groceries.

During her arrest, she told officers that she wasn’t aware the machine hadn’t registered the items, but they continued with the arrest anyway. When officers searched her purse, they found three disposable vapes as well as two unopened blister packs containing the anti-nausea medication Zofran, leading them to not only to charge her for theft over the unscanned items but also for possession of marijuana and a controlled substance.

In the aftermath of the arrest, with a torrent of headlines sweeping across the state, Pettipiece resigned from her role as an NCAA Division 1 softball coach at Valparaiso University.

However, it was later discovered that the machine did not register her ham and asparagus when she scanned them. Not only that, but the vapes did not contain nicotine or THC, nor did the anti-nausea pills belong to her. Instead, they belonged to an assistant coach, who reportedly asked the former All-American softball player to carry them for her during a softball game days before her arrest.

Earlier in September, Pettipiece’s attorney filed for dismissal with an account of the incident from her client’s perspective, proof that the medication was her assistant’s position, and character reference letters. On 19 September, officials dropped the charges against the athlete after reading the filing, but the damage was already done.

“It is bittersweet,” she admitted to the National Post. “I’m happy, obviously, the charges were dismissed. The sad part is the damage it did to my career. It has changed everything in my life.”

“I lost my career, I lost my job, the life I was building and it’s been really difficult,” Pettipiece continued, noting that when she resigned five months prior it was “a living nightmare.”

Not only did the charges damage her career, but they also damaged her reputation, which was all the more heartbreaking. The former coach - who had competed with the Canadian National Team and played in the 2000 Sydney Olympics - was left to pick up the pieces of the wrongful arrest.

“The softball community is a tightknit group and it [the news] went through like wildfire,” the Olympian added. “You really do learn who the people are that really believe in you and trust you and are truly a friend for you.”

Although the charges have been dismissed, she noted that she’s worried the consequences will be irreversible.

“The tough thing is, how do you get out to people that you are innocent? And this damage was done for something so ridiculous,” Pettipiece said, adding she planned on focusing on her family. “I’m not sure of the future. For now, I’m going to stay at home and focus on my kids. I’d like to figure out which direction I’m going to go in.”

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