An Orange Springs man was arrested at the Summerfield Wal-Mart late Thursday night after a loss prevention officer watched him attempt to leave the store with a cart-full of merchandise.
A short time later after being called to the store, a Marion County sheriff’s sergeant and a deputy located the man, later identified as 57-year-old William Joseph Croop, on the south side of the business. They made contact with him while he was walking in an aisle with a cart loaded with merchandise. And they reported seeing several “bulges” in Croop’s waistband and under his jacket, “as if he was concealing items,” a sheriff’s office report states.
The sergeant and deputy identified themselves as law enforcement and Croop told them he was shopping. When asked what was in his waistband and under his jacket, Croop pulled out two Bluetooth speakers that were concealed in the crotch area of his waistband and a set of Bluetooth headphones that were concealed in his jacket under his right armpit. He claimed that he was “holding the items until he could put them back,” the report says, adding that both the speakers and headphones had been taken out of their original packaging.
Croop was then taken to the store’s loss prevention office and read his rights. The deputy showed him a receipt detailing the $624.27 worth of items in his cart that he had allegedly tried to take from the store. Those included a LED light, seven CDs (two Jim Croce, ZZ Top, Willie Nelson, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Cole Swindell and Tim McGraw), fragrance, a gift set, Haagen-Dazs ice cream, two flashlights, a 15-piece socket set, air conditioning refrigerant, a 300-count blue sheet, two hand towels, a shirt jacket, Bluetooth headphones and two Bluetooth speakers, the report says.
In addition, the deputy located two three-inch pens, AAA batteries, a pack of blue pens and a ballpoint pen in Croop’s pockets, the report says.
Croop was arrested and transported to the Marion County Jail, where he was charged early Friday morning with larceny/retail theft. He is scheduled to appear in a Marion County courtroom on Jan. 8 at 9 a.m. to answer to the charge.
