Huntsville City Council member banned from Walmart for shoplifting

A Huntsville councilman has pleaded guilty to two counts of shoplifting.

Huntsville City Council member Devyn Keith, who is in his second term, agreed to a plea deal just as his trial was scheduled to begin Tuesday afternoon.

Keith, 34, was arrested in February and charged with four counts of shoplifting. He stole merchandise from three different Walmart stores in Huntsville, police said. As part of the agreement, two charges were dropped and Keith will pay nearly $465 in damages for the amount from all four cases, news outlets reported.

Madison County District Judge Patty Demos sentenced Keith to a 90-day suspended sentence and two years’ probation for the first charge. For the second charge, Keith was sentenced to a 180-day suspended sentence and 50 hours of community service. He is also permanently barred from entering Walmart.

Assistant District Attorney Tim Gann said after the hearing that Keith received the same treatment as any other person charged with shoplifting.

Gann stated that if Keith completes his probation period with no violations, he will not go to jail. If Keith violates his parole conditions during the two years, the parole will go into effect and he will go to jail.

“Accountability is important to me,” Keith read in a lengthy statement after the hearing. “I have nothing but respect for state officials and Walmart. Now, today’s agreement recognizes that I was negligent and that I was negligent in scanning items, and indeed that makes me wrong.”

He was first elected to the Huntsville City Council in October 2016 and re-elected in 2020. It’s not immediately clear how or if the guilty plea will affect Keith’s future on the city council.

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