A Leesburg man was arrested for fraud when a fellow Walmart employee caught him putting refunded money on his bank card without returning the items.
An officer responded to Walmart, located at 2501 Citrus Blvd., regarding a petit retail theft around 6 p.m. Wednesday, according to an arrest report from the Leesburg Police Department. The reporting party had reviewed the CCTV and Electronic Journal, or a record of transactions, that was sent down from her system security about suspicious activity involving 29-year-old Besham Roopnarine.
At about 6:36 p.m., Oct. 25, Roopnarine, who was an employee at the time wearing a high visibility yellow vest with a nametag, was standing at the store’s customer service station. He noticed a woman needing help with the transaction for a 32” ONN TV at the self-checkout station. After helping her, he put her receipt in his pocket, the report said.
A few minutes later, Roopnarine completed a refund lookup for the items with the receipt. The total amount of the transaction was $88.00 before tax. He then refunded the transaction and put the amount that was charged on his personal bank card without actually returning the items, the report said.
Roopnarine took out another receipt from his pocket at about 7:54 p.m., and he completed a refund for a toddler toy and a stuffed animal unicorn worth a total of $37.41. He again refunded the transaction and put it on his bank card without returning the items, the report said.
A final refund transaction was done at 8:13 p.m. using another receipt. The total amount of the transaction was $28.78 for a Fitrx massage gun and an item listed as AP Ultra Wk. Roopnarine put the refunded money on his personal bank card without returning the items once more, the report said.
On Wednesday evening, the officer met with Roopnarine at Walmart and read his rights. Roopnarine admitted to adding money to his card after helping the customer, saying he was just tight for cash and wanted to get more. As for the last two transactions, he stated he added the money back to his card after he bought the items without returning them a few days before making the purchase. He wanted the money back while still keeping the items, the report said.
Roopnarine was subsequently arrested and charged with three counts of fraud (petit theft – less than $750). The native of Guyana was transported to Lake County Jail and released after posting $1,500 bond.