A suspect was arrested after fleeing with two case of stolen beer from the Walmart at Buffalo Ridge Plaza in The Villages.
Thomas Allen Watts, 50, of Lady Lake, entered the store at about 6 p.m. Saturday and loaded a case of Corona Extra beer and a case of Heineken Original Lager beer into a shopping cart, according to an arrest report from the Sumter County Sheriff’s Office. He also added a 20-ounce bottle of Mountain Dew to the cart before pushing it out of the store without paying for the merchandise, which totaled $59.74. The incident was captured on video surveillance.
Watts “quickly walked” to a pickup truck in the parking lot and loaded the beer and the Mountain Dew inside. He headed east on County Road 466 and was stopped by a deputy at the intersection of County Road 466 and Morse Boulevard.
Watts was taken into custody on a charge of theft. A criminal history check revealed the Lexington, S.C. native had previously been convicted of retail theft in 2000 in Richland County, S.C.
He was booked at the Sumter County Detention Center on $500 bond.
