A Tavares man will have to answer in court after allegedly enlisting juveniles to help him steal merchandise at the Walmart in Leesburg.
An officer responded to the store, located at 2501 Citrus Blvd., regarding retail theft around 6:25 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 4, according to an arrest report from the Leesburg Police Department. Loss prevention had three people detained inside an office, including 29-year-old Christopher Anderson.
Upon arrival, the officer met with a loss prevention employee who advised that all three suspects concealed items, walked past all points of sale and were apprehended at the entrance. The loss prevention employee only wanted Anderson to be prosecuted, but had all of them trespassed, the report said.
The employee explained that Anderson “skip scanned” three items inside of his cart and continued to pay for the rest of the merchandise. The other two, which were juveniles, concealed merchandise on themselves. The stolen merchandise totaled $45.86, the report said.
Another employee stated he saw Anderson give the juveniles items to conceal inside their waistbands. They then walked to the self-checkout area where Anderson skip scanned some merchandise. They tried to leave but were stopped at the exit, the report said.
Anderson later admitted to committing retail theft. As the officer was watching surveillance footage, he asked an associate how the theft happened. Anderson spontaneously confessed he picked up the “scan gun” to scan items inside the cart but intentionally skipped three things, the report said.
Anderson was subsequently issued a misdemeanor citation for petit retail theft and given a court date of Oct. 22.