A top editor at The Villages Daily Sun has been arrested on a theft charge.
Scott Albert, who serves as an associate managing editor at the newspaper, was arrested Thursday afternoon after he allegedly attempted to steal a shirt from Bealls.
The 55-year-old native of Port Huron, Mich. carried a red backpack into the store on U.S. Hwy. 441 in Lady Lake, according to an arrest report from the Sumter County Sheriff’s Office. Albert selected a pair of khaki pants and a blue polo shirt and went into a fitting room. The store’s loss prevention officer saw the Village of Mira Mesa renter come out of the fitting room with the khaki pants, but not the blue polo shirt. There was an empty hanger in the fitting room.
Albert went to the checkout lane and paid for the khaki pants, but not the polo shirt, which was concealed in his backpack, the report said.
The loss prevention officer stopped Albert in the parking lot and called law enforcement.
The shirt was valued at $20.
Albert was arrested on a charge of petit theft. He was booked at the Sumter County Detention Center and released after posting $500 bond.
Albert joined the management team at the Daily Sun earlier this year after leaving his job at The Blade in Toledo, Ohio. He previously worked at the San Diego Union-Tribune and the Orange County Register in California.
