An Ohio woman was arrested while on vacation for allegedly failing to scan over $90 worth of items at a self-checkout lane at Walmart.
According to a police report from the Lake County Sheriff’s Office, a deputy responded to Walmart, 550 US Hwy. 27 in Clermont, around 11:37 a.m. Monday for a shoplifting incident.
Upon arrival, the officer met the complainant, a theft prevention employee at the store. She stated that while watching the cameras at the self-checkout line, she observed 27-year-old Keyairah Marie Hermai Harper scanning and skipping scanning 31 items at the register. She saw Harper scan certain items and place them in a bag while simply putting others in bags, the report said.
Harper paused the transaction at one point so a Walmart employee could assist her before continuing with the same behavior. She paid for some of the items she had scanned, but not for the ones she had skipped and bagged. She continued to the store’s main entrance and passed through all the registers without paying for the items she hadn’t scanned, the report said.
At that point, the plaintiff approached Harper and told her she needed to see her at the Loss Prevention Office. She provided an affidavit stating she wanted to sue on behalf of the store and was given a victim’s rights pamphlet. She also shared that the total value of the unscanned items was $92.23 before they were returned to her, the report said.
The officer looked at video surveillance and saw Harper scanning items, including a possibly spilled gallon of milk. She attempted to scan items that failed to scan, at which point a Walmart employee approached her and emptied the register. Harper scanned and skipped other items and put them in bags. Next, she grabbed the bags and placed them in a shopping cart with other unscanned merchandise, the report states.
The deputy last spoke to Harper. He read her her rights and she said she understood them and wanted to speak with the deputy. She explained that she was on vacation from Ohio and wanted to pick up some groceries. She was in a hurry because a family member had to be somewhere at 11:30 a.m. for a meeting about a promotion, the report said.
There was some milk on the scanner at the self-checkout counter, and she told the host that the machine wasn’t scanning. The host came and cleaned it, but the machine continued to have problems. Her son put the bags in the shopping cart, the report said.
Harper claimed she didn’t know the bags were there and hadn’t been scanned. The only thing she didn’t scan was the meat. The deputy asked her if she had ever shoplifted in her past, and she admitted to being arrested in 2016 for an incident at an Ohio mall, the report said.
The officer conducted a criminal history check on Harper and found that charges against her had been dropped in Ohio in 2016, the report said.
Harper was eventually arrested for petty theft (less than $100). She was taken to the Lake County Jail and released after posting $500.
