A 40-year-old Ocala man suspected of label-switching at Wal-Mart at Buffalo Ridge Plaza was tracked down at the Arby’s in The Villages.
A Sumter County sheriff’s deputy was responding at 10:18 a.m. Wednesday to a report of a theft at the Wal-Mart when he spotted the man believed to be the suspect in the parking lot at Arby’s.
When the deputy approached Christopher Raymond Carson, he told the deputy that he had been told to stay away from Wal-Mart but hand not done anything wrong. However, when the deputy and Carson returned to Wal-Mart, a loss prevention officer said Carson had been spotted taking labels from items in housewares and putting them on car batteries. Carson then proceeded through the self-checkout lane, paying for the car batteries at greatly reduced prices.
Carson has a history of arrests on charges of grand theft and petit theft in Sumter County.
He was booked at the Sumter County Detention Center on $2,000 bond.