A Leesburg man who was fired from Walmart reportedly returned to the store the next day to steal hundreds of dollars’ worth of merchandise, leading to his arrest on burglary charges.
An officer responded Monday afternoon to the Walmart at 2501 Citrus Boulevard, where a store employee said that on June 23, 39-year-old Phillip Gregory Clemmons took sensitive documents and merchandise from the store. She said Clemmons had been terminated the day before, according to an arrest report from the Leesburg Police Department.
The reporting party said she observed Clemmons on recorded security camera video enter the store after hours at 11:08 p.m. and walk into the backroom about 20 minutes later. Clemmons began taking pictures of the powerlifting equipment before entering the office where the power equipment binder was kept. About 25 minutes later, Clemmons exited with the powerlifting documents in his hand, the report said.
Clemmons then went into the claims cage, unlocked it and grabbed an unidentified object off of the printer. Next, he retrieved a shopping cart and filled it with several items. He also entered the cash office and took what appeared to be money from one of the drawers, the report said.
Clemmons entered the backroom again, where he unlocked the high-dollar room and placed two Sony PlayStation 5 consoles in his cart. He walked back to the front of the store and went to register 14, where he began bagging the merchandise without scanning anything. He then entered the general merchandise vestibule, passing all last points of sale, and made no attempt to pay for the concealed merchandise, the report said.
The report noted that the keys Clemmons used were thought to be the employee master key that he failed to return per company policy upon his termination, and the store was closed to all but employees at 11 p.m.
The officer watched multiple videos confirming the reporting party’s statement. The highest-valued items stolen, the two PlayStations, were worth $499 each. The multiple consumable goods totaled $1,072.50.
The New York native was subsequently arrested on charges of burglary of an occupied structure (no forced entry) and grand retail theft (greater than $750). He was taken to the Lake County Jail, where was bond was set at $17,000.
