Off-duty UPD officer's eye-witness account leads to arrest

Authorities said two Brazos Valley residents attempted somewhat different tactics when trying — but failing — to steal merchandise from local Walmart stores over the weekend.
A 36-year-old woman tried to walk out of the College Station store near Harvey Mitchell Parkway at about 5 p.m. Saturday after picking up items that matched an old receipt, acting as if she’d paid for the merchandise, police said.
A loss prevention officer noticed the Franklin woman walk into the store with the receipt, then fill a shopping cart with the same items, court documents state. At some point, the woman put the items in shopping bags and attempted to leave the store, reports state
She was charged with theft of property worth more than $50 and less than $500, a Class B misdemeanor punishable by up to 180 days in jail and a $2,000 fine.
She was released from the Brazos County Jail on Saturday on $3,000 bail.
Across town earlier in the day, an off-duty Texas A&M University police officer saw four men rush out of the Walmart off Briarcrest Drive in Bryan with a cart filled with electronics and other items, police said. The men placed the merchandise in a Ford Explorer, which had a garbage bag covering its license plates, police said.
Alerted by the UPD officer, Bryan police stopped the SUV and the four men each denied the items were stolen, court documents state. The driver, a 23-year-old Bryan man, eventually told police the other three men didn’t know he had stolen the items and apologized for lying, according to the police report.
The man had stolen a 31-inch television, a Blue-Ray player, movies, clothes, a digital camera and other items valued at almost $1,200, police said.
He was charged with theft of property worth more than $500 and less than $1,500. The crime is a Class A misdemeanor, punishable by up to a year in jail and a fine up to $4,000.
He was released Saturday from behind bars on $4,600 bail.