A homeless man was arrested after dashing out of Walmart with a backpack full of stolen merchandise.
Jonathan Dwight Kirkland, 32, was at the store at Buffalo Ridge Plaza in The Villages on Monday afternoon when he loaded up a backpack and ran out of the store, according to an arrest report from the Sumter County Sheriff’s Office. A loss prevention officer had watched Kirkland stuff merchandise into the backpack and then leaving without paying for any of it. The backpack was also stolen from the store. A K-9 deputy arrived on the scene and caught Kirkland near a retention pond.
Kirkland was previously convicted of theft in 2010, 2013 and 2020. He was arrested earlier this year with methamphetamine in Lady Lake.
He was arrested on a felony charge of theft and booked at the Sumter County Detention Center. Bond was set at $10,000.
