DOCUMENT: Fail, Crime

Walmart Thief Fled On Store's Electric Scooter

Getaway bid was thwarted by Louisiana cops

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Walmart Getaway

JANUARY 22--After stealing $73 worth of merchandise from Walmart, a Louisiana man made his getaway on one of the store’s electric wheelchair shopping carts, according to police who subsequently corralled him at a nearby truck stop.

Daniel Gaspard, 45, left the store Saturday afternoon with a half gallon of vodka, an Adidas sun visor, a TV antenna, and “Mardi Gras cups,” police reported.

The items were inside the front basket of a shopping cart that Gaspard drove past checkout lanes at the store in Eunice, a city 80 miles west of Baton Rouge.

A Walmart employee heading to work spotted Gaspard driving the cart through the parking lot of a nearby Dollar Store. After the worker told a store manager about the cart theft, police were summoned.

Responding to the 911 call, Eunice Police Department officers eventually located Gaspard, pictured above, at a truck stop across the street from the Dollar Store.

Gaspard was arrested on a felony theft charge for stealing the Walmart merchandise and the electric shopping cart, which had a “Property of Walmart” sign affixed to it. He was also charged with trespassing.

The motorized cart’s value was estimated at up to $3000. Such carts rarely top out at more than a few miles an hour.

Gaspard is locked up in lieu of $4000 bail, according to police. (2 page)