Covington Police department officers were on their way to Walmart at 10300 Industrial Blvd. about 10 p.m., Aug. 10, where store security employees were detaining a shoplifting suspect, when they learned that the suspect was making a run for it.

The description: a white female wearing blue shorts and carrying a diaper bag and a purse was reportedly attempting to get into a white F-150 pickup truck. When a CPD officer entered the store parking lot, reports said, he saw the security employee chasing the woman, who was on foot. When the officer went next door to Fastenal, he saw a woman matching the description, and, reports said, the officer "yelled out my window before coming to a complete stop for her to stop running.’’

When the officer exited the patrol car and "gave clear verbal commands,’’ the suspect, later identified as Charity Young, did stop running. The officer advised her that she was under arrest and transported her back to Walmart to meet with Loss Prevention employees, according to reports. Young told officers that the diaper bag and its contents were stolen, and that some items in the black purse she was carrying also were stolen. While searching the purse, reports said, officers found a drivers license with another woman’s name, which the suspect told them was in fact her name.

But police told the suspect that officers had been dispatched the night before to the emergency room to speak with the woman whom Young was claiming to be. A further search turned up a drivers license in Young’s name hidden in the back of a wallet.

Officers determined that Young had a warrant out of Walton County. A Walmart employee then did a database search and discovered that Young was issued a criminal trespass warrant for shoplifting on Sept. 15, 2010, at a Walmart store in Monroe.

The diaper bag, diapers, other baby items and various merchandise that Young allegedly stole totaled $137.81.

She was transported to the Newton County Law Enforcement Center and charged with theft by shoplifting, criminal trespass and false information.

Scanner scam

The next day, officers returned to the same Walmart store, at 10300 Industrial Blvd,, in reference to another complaint of shoplifting. A Walmart loss prevention employee told the officers that he had witnessed two women, later identified as Ashley Scott and Christie Delancey, shoplifting within the store. Officers observed a buggy that contained several lunchboxes and other miscellaneous items that store employees said the two women were attempting to steal. According to reports, Scott and Delancey were observed scanning several items in a self-checkout lane, with each item ringing up for 88 cents. A Loss Prevention employee had a Walmart associate check the items, and when she opened them, more items were found concealed inside.

Scott and Delancey told the Walmart employees that they were unaware of the concealed items, but, reports said, a Loss Prevention employee had earlier observed the women walking through the store’s Women’s Department with the items in their buggy.

According to reports, Delancey and Scott admitted to the Loss Prevention employee that they had repeatedly scanned an 88-cents tag to avoid paying full price for the items. Delancey and Scott also admitted to officers that they had concealed items in the handbag and lunchboxes, reports said.

They were transported to the Law Enforcement Center and charged with shoplifting.