Walmart shopper, 36, ‘caught using sneaky trick to steal $434 of clothing from store’

A WALMART customer has been charged after he stole $434 worth of clothing from the superstore.

The alleged shoplifter managed to walk out with the stolen merchandise hidden inside trash bags, but police were able to later identify him using surveillance footage.

In December 2022, Andrew James Brockhouse, 36, from Monessen, Pennsylvania, went into a Walmart in Clarion and took $439.48 worth of apparel items for men, women, boys, and girls without paying, according to a criminal complaint.

He took a black garbage bag from a box on a store shelf and put several stolen products into the bag, the complaint says.

A Clarion-based State Trooper was called to the Walmart days later and watched a video of the incident.

The suspect in the surveillance footage appeared to be the same as a suspect that the New Bethlehem Police Department was looking for in connection to another retail theft, according to the complaint.

Police later identified the shoplifter in the Clarion Walmart incident as Brockhouse in January 2023.

He had two previous convictions for retail theft, the complaint noted.

Brockhouse was charged with retail theft, his third offense, on May 3 and is awaiting a preliminary hearing.

Retail theft has become increasingly problematic across the United States for both major retailers and small businesses.

The National Retail Federation found that organized retail crime is the main reason for shrinkage in stores.

Shrink is a term used to describe when a retailer has fewer products than what is recorded in the books.

Retailers lost $94.5billion in 2021 from shrink, which is an increase of over $4billion from the year before, according to an NRF 2022 survey.

Additionally, the survey reports a 26.5 percent increase in organized retail crime in 2021.

In December 2022, Walmart CEO Doug McMillon gave a warning to shoppers about retail crime potentially causing store closures.

“Theft is an issue. It’s higher than what it has historically been,” he told CNBC.

He warned that “prices will be higher, and/or stores will close,” if the situation doesn’t improve.