BY DAN HILDEBRAN
Telegraph Staff Writer
STARKE— A 61-year-old Starke man was sentenced to nearly a year in jail for stealing chicken from Walmart and fleeing the retailer on a bicycle.
Alton Lamar Moore pleaded to felony petit theft and was sentenced to 300 days in jail.
According to an arrest report, a Walmart loss prevention officer saw the defendant on Oct. 7, 2022, put packs of chicken into his shopping basket, and then walk to the front of the store.
“Moore walks to the front as if he is going toward the registers,” wrote reporting officer Frank W. Krol in a sworn complaint. “However, he does not. Moore turns into the woman’s clothing department and is out of camera view for a brief moment. Moore then reappears into camera view coming out of the woman’s clothes department, and all of the chicken has been bagged up in grey Walmart plastic bags.”
Krol wrote that once the defendant reached the parking lot, he then re-entered the store for more poultry.
“Moore then exits the store and (the loss prevention officer) approaches Moore, identifying himself as asset protection, and advises him to return the chicken,” wrote Krol. “Moore advises (the officer) that he was already out of the store and (the worker) could not stop him. That is when (the employee) captured a photo of Moore with the property on his bicycle.”
The after-tax value of the chicken was $64.20, and Moore had two previous convictions for retail theft.
