A WALMART shopper has allegedly attempted to steal around $800 worth of items using a sneaky self-checkout trick that involves soda.
In Cortlandville, New York, about 40 miles south of Syracuse, state police arrested Adrian Endsley, 46, after employees at a local Walmart supposedly witnessed the Lacona resident shoplifting.
State police received a call reporting larceny from Walmart staff on June 7.
After arriving, employees said they witnessed Endsley fill a shopping cart with about $836 worth of product before scanning just a soda at the self-checkout, per The Central New York Business Journal.
Law enforcement told the publication that Endsley was charged with third-degree burglary.
Endsley was also previously banned from entering any Walmart store before the situation on June 7, as there had reportedly been similar incidents.
That’s why the charge was burglary instead of shoplifting, officers noted.
Because of the ban, Endsley unlawfully entered Walmart and committed larceny, which led to the burglary determination.
Police took the alleged thief to the Homer Police Department for processing.
He was later taken to Cortland County Jail for further processing and arraignment.
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The self-checkout “soda trick” comes as several shoppers have been caught recently for alleged thefts and using sneaky methods to get past security without paying for everything.
As The U.S. Sun previously reported, a shopper in Tennessee allegedly stole three televisions after only scanning a can of Pepsi at a self-checkout kiosk.
On June 5, the unnamed suspect was seen entering the store on Memorial Boulevard.
She then allegedly went to the self-checkout area, where she scanned and paid for a can of Pepsi but did not scan anything else.
The suspect was then seen leaving the Walmart store with the three televisions and her can of soda, which security footage captured.
The Murfreesboro Police Department is still looking to identify the Walmart shopper.
Last month, another Walmart shopper in Lexington, Kentucky, allegedly grabbed another customer’s receipt and walked out of the store with a cart full of merchandise that was unpaid for.
Surveillance cameras captured the man grabbing someone else’s receipt from the self-checkout area before walking out with the cart, WIST reported.
Either way, self-checkout theft has been an increasingly pertinent issue, costing major retailers around $100billion since 2021, per a study by the National Retail Federation.
Last December, Walmart CEO Doug McMillon even told CNBC Squawk Box that retail theft “is higher than what it has historically been.”
For more related content, check out The U.S. Sun’s coverage of how a Walmart employee says they can spot the “skip scan” self-checkout stealing trick.
The U.S. Sun also has the story of how police are on the hunt for two men who allegedly ripped off dozens through their Walmart self-checkout scamming.
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