March 15, 2011 Wal-Mart employee arrested for stealing customers purse www.privateofficer.com
Stafford AZ March 15 2011 A Walmart employee was charged with theft after she allegedly stole a customer’s purse.
A Safford officer was dispatched to the Walmart at 755 20th Ave. at about 2:10 p.m. on Sunday after a woman reported her purse had been stolen out of a shopping cart. The woman said she forgot to take her purse out of the cart when she placed the cart into its stall, and it was gone when she went to retrieve it. The victim said her purse contained her driver’s license, credit cards and $400 in cash.
Surveillance footage from Walmart showed a female store employee, Mary Yvonne Quintana, 45, formerly of Morenci take the purse out of the cart and place it in her vehicle when she unloaded her own cart. Quintana then drove off from the store.
The officer was given Quintana’s address by store management and eventually located her at her residence. The suspect first denied knowledge of the purse but then retrieved it from her trash can after being told of the surveillance footage. The officer asked why Quintana didn’t take the purse to customer service when she saw it in the cart and she allegedly said, “I didn’t think about it.”
The purse was returned to the victim with her driver’s license and credit cards intact, but without any cash. Quintana told the officer she did not find any money in the purse.
The victim said besides the money, she was still missing a set of car keys and a coin holder that was also inside her purse.
Another officer returned to Quintana’s house to look for the keys inside the trash can. A male subject asked what the officer was doing and was informed of the missing keys. He went into the residence and returned with a set of vehicle keys. He said his son was playing with them. The victim later identified the keys as hers.
Quintana was given a citation for theft and released from custody.
Update:
According to a Safford Police report, a loss prevention associate with Walmart informed police that Quintana returned the victim’s coin holder and $406.05 on Tuesday. The estimated loss to the victim was $420, and the loss prevention associate said Walmart would reimburse the victim the remaining $14. The associate also stated Quintana was fired from her position.
Source:Eastern Arizona Courier
Tags: Mary Yvonne Quintana
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- Posted under employee theft, loss prevention
