A suspected shoplifter was arrested at Wal-Mart at Buffalo Ridge Plaza in The Villages after stealing fishing lures and a bottle of vodka.
Eric Wayne Watson, 35, of Oxford, was arrested at 7 p.m. Tuesday after he entered the store and left with three fishing lures and a bottle of Svedka vodka, according to an arrest report from the Sumter County Sheriff’s Office. The lures were still in their original packaging and tucked inside a duffle bag. Watson had been captured on video taking the merchandise.
Watson had been banned last year from Wal-Mart at Buffalo Ridge Plaza after stealing a backpack full of merchandise.
Watson was arrested earlier in 2018 after paying an unwanted visit to a store at Southern Trace Plaza from which he had also been banned. In 2014, Watson was arrested after punching a woman in the nose on Christmas Day.
Due to his prior criminal history, Tuesday’s arrest was elevated to a felony theft charge. Watson was booked on $15,000 bond at the Sumter County Detention Center.
