BY RACHEL DOVE
MOUNTAIN CITIZEN 

LOUISA — After committing an alleged theft at the Louisa Tractor Supply, an Inez man made matters worse by giving police a fake name as they were arresting him, authorities said.

Keith Allen Wiley, 22, of Inez, was arrested Friday evening in Louisa and charged with shoplifting and providing false identifying information to an officer. 

According to the police report, Lawrence County Sheriff’s deputy Travis Laney responded at 6:40 p.m. Friday to a call from Tractor Supply about two shoplifters in a red and green Ford Ranger. The caller provided the license plate number.

After another deputy stated he believed one of the suspects was Nick Perry, Laney drove to Perry’s residence on N. Lackey Avenue and found the same truck with the same plate number parked in the driveway.

The deputy made contact with an individual who identified himself as “Travis Wiley” and claimed to be 20 years of age. The individual told the deputy that Perry was the “only one driving” the truck.

During the arrest, the officer discovered the man’s real name was Keith Wiley, born in 1990, who had an outstanding 2017 bench warrant for failure to appear in court

Laney reported that Wiley denied being at Tractor Supply but later changed his story, saying he was sorry he lied – that he was there and “was covering for a friend.”

During a pat down, Laney found a BB pistol on Wiley. He also located a hunting knife and a pair of bolt cutters with the store tag inside the vehicle.

Tractor Supply’s store manager advised the deputy that the BB gun box, left empty in the store, “had blood all over it.”

“[Wiley] stated that if his blood is on the box, it’s on the box, but still insisted that he did not steal anything,” Laney reported.

The officer noted Wiley had a cut on his middle finger and found blood on the handle of the stolen bolt cutters.

Police said the store manager identified both Wiley and Perry.

Wiley remained in jail Tuesday at the Big Sandy Regional Detention Center.