VERO BEACH — A 25-year-old woman was arrested after she only paid $3.70 for merchandise totaling $1,825.20 in a self-checkout line at Walmart, Indian River County deputies said.
Cheyenne Amber West, of Fort Pierce, was charged with grand theft and shoplifting. She is being held at the Indian River County Jail on $3,000 bond.
A deputy went to the store shortly after 5 p.m. Monday in the 5500 block of 20th Street. They spoke with a loss prevention manager, who told them he saw West in the electronics department selecting several video game controllers from the locking peg hooks on the shelf, deputies said.
West then met up with another woman and they picked up more merchandise together including an Omen computer. The loss prevention manager kept his eyes on the women as they moved into the clearance department.
They then removed the labels from the clearance items and placed them over the bar codes of some of the other selected merchandise, deputies said. The women removed the security wrap from the controllers and computer and placed them on an empty shelf.
The women went to the self-checkout, where they scanned the clearance tags instead of the actual tags. They made no attempt to pay for the computer and several other items.
The cost for the items came to $3.70 and the cost for the total unpaid merchandise was $1,825. The deputy saw the incident on the store’s surveillance footage.
Deputies arrested West, and she told them she was just trying to get gifts for her son that she couldn’t afford, according to authorities. She said the computer was for her husband since he just got her a new purse.
West was taken to the county jail for booking. Details on if the second woman was arrested were not immediately available.
