Portage County Sheriff's deputies have arrested an East Canton woman after she allegedly tried to steal a coil of wire from an Edinburg Township hardware store. Sheriff David Doak says on Valentine's day Lydia Blake walked into the store on Tallmadge Road and tried to leave with the wire without paying. Blake was confronted by a female employee in the parking lot as she tried to get into her car. That's when a man waiting in the car got out and shoved the employee, who still managed to retrieve the wire coil as the two suspects left the parking lot.

While looking for Blake investigators discovered that she was also involved in a theft from the Wal-Mart in Alliance that occurred on Wednesday. With the assistance of the Stark County Sheriffs Office, Lydia Blake was taken into custody at the motel where she was living. She faces a robbery charged and is being held without bond.

Portage deputies continue to look for her accomplice.