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IPFW cheer coach charged with shoplifting

FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WANE) The head coach of IPFW’s cheerleading program was arrested this week for shoplifting more than $1,000 worth of items from Von Maur.

Fort Wayne Police were called around 11:30 a.m. Wednesday to the high-end retail store at Jefferson Pointe on a report of a theft that had just happened there. When officers arrived, a loss prevention official said a woman had taken a handbag, a shirt and two dresses from the store and left without paying for the items, according to a Fort Wayne Police report.

The theft was captured on the store’s surveillance system, the report said. The loss prevention official also gave police a description of the suspect’s vehicle and a license plate number.

Moments later, police pulled over 53-year-old Julie A. Lebamoff at Calhoun Street and West Jefferson Boulevard in downtown Fort Wayne. Inside the vehicle, police found the stolen items, the report said.

Lebamoff was arrested and charged with theft. She reportedly admitted to stealing the items to a transporting officer, the report said.

Lebamoff is the head cheerleading coach at IPFW, where she was hired in 2015 after a coaching at New Haven and Woodlan high schools, according to the IPFW website. The website says Lebamoff has a 20-year “accomplished career” in coaching that includes “a plethora of honors and recognitions.”

After an accomplished career in coaching at New Haven High School and Woodlan High School, Julie Lebamoff was hired as the Fort Wayne Mastodons cheerleading head coach in 2015.

Derrick Sloboda, assistant athletics director for media services at IPFW, said Lebamoff has been placed on administrative leave.