An ex-employee of Walmart at Buffalo Ridge Plaza in The Villages resisted arrest when law enforcement attempted to take him into custody on a shoplifting charge.
Candy Yosef Brown, 48, who lives in the Village Park Center Town Homes off County Road 466 near the Hampton Inn, went into the store at about 11 a.m. Monday and began loading items into his shopping cart, according to an arrest report from the Sumter County Sheriff’s Office. He was recognized as a former store employee who had been suspected of prior thefts at the store. Brown pushed his cart out of the store without paying for nearly $400 worth of merchandise. He was loading the merchandise into the trunk of a silver Nissan sedan when he was confronted by a deputy.
Brown, who stands 5 feet 9 inches tall and weighs 250 pounds, resisted efforts to be taken into custody and had to be taken to the ground. He suffered a minor abrasion to his arm and was checked out by paramedics from The Villages Public Safety Department.
He was arrested on charge of theft and resisting arrest. He was booked at the Sumter County Detention Center and released after posting $1,150 bond.
Brown has a previous theft conviction from 2018 in New York.