A woman has been arrested after attempting to return unpurchased items to the Manitowoc Meijer store.
The Manitowoc Police Department responded to a call on a report of retail theft at the store just before 5:30 Saturday evening (July 27th).
A Meijer employee revealed to the officer that a 31-year-old Manitowoc woman had attempted to return items without a receipt.
The employee also noted that they recognized the 31-year-old as someone with a history of shoplifting from Meijer.
As part of previous bail conditions, the suspect was to have no contact with the Meijer location.
Upon review of the store’s surveillance video, the officer learned the 31-year-old woman entered the store without any items, grabbed an empty cart, and proceeded to fill it with more than $230 worth of merchandise.
She then wheeled the cart to the returns desk to return items she never purchased. She also claimed that her grandmother had passed away and never used the items in her cart.
After being denied the return, she came back with her mother, who was able to carry out the fraudulent return of goods for a Meijer gift card worth $232.25.
The suspect then used that gift card to purchase a donut and subsequently stole a bag of Doritos from the store as well.
Manitowoc Police Officers were able to locate the Manitowoc woman at her residence, where she was arrested on charges of retail theft and five counts of bail jumping.
