CHILLICOTHE, Ohio — A Chillicothe woman was arrested Wednesday night after she allegedly tried to walk out of a local Walmart with nearly $400 in unpaid merchandise, then fled the store as a passenger in an SUV that police stopped a short distance away, according to a Chillicothe Police Department report.
Officer Joshua Wright was sent to the Walmart on River Trace Lane around 10:16 p.m. on Oct. 7 after store loss prevention staff said a shopper was using a handheld scanner at a self-checkout lane in a way that rang items up at far below their actual prices, police said. A household lamp in the woman’s cart reportedly registered as a $3 T-shirt on the store’s monitoring equipment.
When loss prevention workers confronted the shopper, police said, she abandoned a full cart at the exit doors, grabbed her purse and walked out, then left the parking lot in a large gray SUV. Officers spotted the vehicle and pulled it over near Bridge Street and Riverside Street.
Police said the woman was cooperative during the stop and acknowledged leaving the cart behind. An inventory of the abandoned cart turned up 10 items valued at $399.04, according to police. Among the unpaid goods were ribeye steaks tucked inside backpacks the woman had paid for, along with several frozen pizzas.
Karan Ross was booked into the Ross County Jail on a theft charge and held in lieu of bond, with a court appearance scheduled for 9 a.m. today, police said. She was also barred from Walmart property, with police warning that a return could bring additional criminal charges.
All charges are allegations. Ross is presumed innocent until proven guilty in court.
