WAFB Channel 9, Baton Rouge, LA |Surveillance shows 5 men shoplifting at Walmart
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Source: Iberville Parish Sheriff's Office
By Tyana Williams - bio | email
PLAQUEMINE, LA (WAFB) - Thanksgiving may be just around the corner, but already several stores have put up Christmas decorations. And some shoppers are already looking for "Five-Finger Discounts."
Sunday night, five guys left the Walmart in Plaquemine with two loaded carts, but no receipt. Detectives with the Iberville Parish Sheriff's Office say it wasn't until the last guy ran out, that an employee noticed what they were doing. As the detectives say, 'tis the season to steal.
Sales associates say they are watching their products, because everyone who touches isn't necessarily buying. "Always be on guard. Especially around the holiday season. Always be on guard," says Valarie Cavalier, who works at Credit Merchandise in Plaquemine.
Cavalier says, fingers crossed, the goods in her rent-to-own store won't walk while she's on watch. "I know what I'm looking for. They keep looking at you sideways or you know just piddling around the store. Not really asking questions, being very quiet."
Unfortunately for the Wal-Mart on Belleview Road, Detective Hosea Anderson says almost three thousand dollars worth of electronics rolled away Sunday night. "Brave yes, I would say brave. To walk in a store during working hours and just load up baskets and walk out like they purchased the items."
Surveillance video from the store shows three guys walk in, followed by two more about four minutes later. The camera caught them again walking around the electronics department with a basket. Iberville Parish Detectives say that computer isn't the only thing the five carted off. Another camera in the garden center caught a loaded dolly and a buggy full of electronics.
"He finds the television he wants. Pulls it out, puts it on the floor," the detective says, looking at the video. That's a 32-inch flat screen, gone. Detectives say from the time they went inside the front door, until they walked out the side fire exit, the five were in the store less than 35 minutes. The video also shows the last two people running out. Apparently that's when a store employee noticed what they did. The video shows them loading the stolen merchandise into the getaway truck. Detectives say the got away with televisions, computers, phones, and phone cases.
"I would say professional. They know what they're doing, or actually know the stores," says Det. Anderson.
A manager at the Wal-Mart in Prairieville also reported they had been shoplifted. Detectives believe it's the same five people, ranging in age between 16 and 25 years old.
If you have information about either case, call Crime Stoppers at 344-STOP.
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