A Leesburg man will appear in court for the attempted theft of $56 merchandise from Walmart.
Officers responded to Walmart, located at 2501 Citrus Blvd., regarding retail theft on the evening of July 3, according to a case report from the Leesburg Police Department. Loss prevention had already detained the suspect, 43-year-old Anthony Richard Manuele, in their office.
An employee had reviewed the surveillance cameras to see Manuele mis-scanning merchandise at a self-checkout register. He had one of the stolen items in a trash can he was trying to buy. He also placed it on top of unpaid goods and used it to hide other items, the report said.
As soon as Manuele paid for some of the other merchandise, he passed all the points of sale, the report said. Loss prevention then recovered the $56.60 stolen items, including a toothbrush, a sparkler, a box of LED cables, one pack of snap firecrackers, an air freshener and a glow bracelet.
Manuele later stated he was sorry, and he stole the merchandise due to low funds. A check of his criminal history found no prior theft convictions in Florida, but he had three convictions of theft of immovable property out of Wisconsin. It was undetermined at the time if the three convictions met the conviction criteria in Florida, the report said.
Manuele was issued a citation for retail theft with a court date of July 28.