BY DAN HILDEBRAN
General manager
A 33-year-old Starke man is spending 90 days in jail after pleading to shoplifting from Walmart on three separate occasions.
Walter Shane Davis pleaded to three counts of petit theft, two counts of resisting the recovery of property, and one count each of requesting a refund with a false receipt and battery.
According to arrest reports, on April 18, 2022, Walmart loss prevention officers saw Davis put store merchandise into his backpack and walk past all points of sale. The store associates stopped Davis and an accomplice and took possession of the backpack; Davis tried to snatch the backpack away from one of the Walmart workers but was unsuccessful. The two defendants then fled.
On May 14, 2023, store loss prevention officers accused Davis and a female accomplice of under-ringing items at the store’s self-checkout kiosk. Store video revealed that Davis used a case of water to conceal the pair placing merchandise into a shopping cart while bypassing the self-checkout scanner. After loss prevention officers asked the pair to accompany them to the loss prevention office, both defendants refused, and Davis shoved one of the officers while fleeing the store.
On May 18, 2023, Starke police returned to the retailer, where employees reported they viewed Davis and his female accomplice under-ringing $71 worth of merchandise at a self-checkout kiosk. They added that Davis also tried getting a $57.78 refund on a lantern he had stolen from the store earlier.
