Wal-mart store battles with shoplifters

Loss prevention employees at the Rochester Hills Wal-Mart store at 2500 S. Adams stopped two thefts at the self-checkout register in two days in early October, according to sheriff's incident reports.

An employee on Friday, October 5, stopped the theft of about $73 in merchandise by a woman who allegedly tried to leave with the items after failing to pay for them at a self-checkout register about 8:19 p.m. The items, including dish soap, a bra, shorts and other items were all recovered as the woman attempted leave the store after scanning only some of the items in her cart.

Loss prevention told a sheriff's deputy they suspected a theft was going to take place when the woman was seen quickly selecting what appeared to be random items without paying attention to the prices. The woman told the deputy responding to the scene that she did it because she didn't think she would get caught. She was cited for retail fraud, fingerprinted and processed at the Rochester Hills Substation and released.

The self-checkout shuffle was allegedly observed the following Saturday by a loss prevention employee who noticed another woman about 4:58 p.m. who failed to scan about $127 in items, including a pair of pants, DVDs and food.

The woman told the responding deputy she was having a hard time making ends meet while putting herself through college without anyone to help with food. The titles of the DVDs weren't known. All items were recovered.

The woman was cited for retail fraud and released.