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 NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — Michelle Alcombright, wife of North Adams Mayor Richard J. Alcombright, was charged with shoplifting two weeks ago in Florida.
Alcombright, 53, was arrested and charged with probable cause of retail theft of more than $300 on Tuesday, March 29, at a shopping plaza in Ruskin, Fla., just outside of Tampa.
According to a report by the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office, the arrest was made at about 7 p.m. The report doesn't state where the arrest took place other than 3846 Sun City Boulevard, the address of the plaza, which includes a Walmart Supercenter, a Beall's Department Store and a pet supermarket.
She was booked at 10:17 that night and was held until 5 p.m. the next day, when a $2,000 surety bond was posted for her release.
Word of her arrest was posted liberally on the Topix comments section over the weekend and emailed to iBerkshires. Her arrest was one of the top most viewed Sunday on the Tampa page of Whosarrested.com. There had been rumors over the past year of a similar incident at a local Walmart but no facts.
Michelle Alcombright was not at the mayor's re-election launch on Friday and the following reception was hosted by his daughter. We have asked the mayor for a statement.
Update: Mayor Alcombright released this statement on Monday, April 11, 2011, shortly after noon. We are running it in its entirety.
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 My wife, Michelle, is humiliated, ashamed and hurting deeply, and our entire family is saddened as a result of this recent situation. With that said, we are no different from any other family that struggle with personal issues.
The past two years have been extremely difficult for my wife as she has faced crippling anxiety, severe depression and physical health problems and she is currently in an outpatient program helping her deal with her issues. My interests are embedded in making sure she gets the necessary care to make her well and to become physically and emotionally healthy once again.
I ask the community to allow us to handle this as it should be handled ... as a personal family matter. I will deal with family and personal issues as would any other husband and father.
I will, as I have done for the past 15 months, continue to fulfill my elected responsibilities as mayor and fully hope to continue as I announced last week, to be in this position for two more years.
This will be my only comment on the situation.
Richard J. Alcombright
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