Telegraph Staff Writer
STARKE— A former Walmart employee was sentenced to three years probation and ordered to pay the retailer $1,411.25 in restitution after pleading to creating fraudulent gift cards.
Taquandra Deshon Diggs, 29, of Starke was arrested by Starke police on March 9 for battery, resisting an officer, larceny and fraud.
On May 24 she pleaded no contest to the three charges, and Circuit Court Judge James Colaw withheld adjudication in sentencing the defendant.
According to court papers, a Walmart loss prevention officer told Starke police officer David Clancy Jr. that the defendant processed fraudulent merchandise returns and put the proceeds on gift cards.
“(The loss prevention officer) advised that Diggs performed 14 fraudulent transactions of returns to gift cards,” wrote Clancy in an arrest report. “(He) advised Diggs performed these fraudulent transactions from (Jan. 14 to Feb. 23, 2023). (The) total amount of fraudulent transactions (were) $1,411.25.”
Clancy added that while attempting to arrest Diggs at the store, the defendant resisted his efforts, and the pair fell to the floor. The officer deployed his Taser twice to subdue Diggs, but the 29-year-old was able to break away and flee from the Commercial Circle retailer.
She later turned herself in at the Bradford County Sheriff’s Office.
