The Walmart "Fake Arrest" Scheme
It
was a brilliant scheme: send in someone to shoplift goods, then come in
as an undercover cop to arrest him, then make off with the goods free
and clear. It worked in Hollywood movies all the time ...
But things went awry with this "fake arrest" scheme at a Florida (where else?) Walmart:
The young perps--who hatched the “fake arrest” plot as a cover for swiping four decks of trading cards--were arrested after a suspicious store manager, Laura Dougherty, followed them from the Port St. Lucie retailer and watched as Brandon Rhoads, 17, unlocked a set of toy handcuffs from the wrists of his 14-year-old cohort.
According to a police report, the bizarre incident occurred Monday at around 3 AM. Rhoads, pictured above, entered the Walmart with a “gun in a holster on his hip” and “quickly opened and closed his wallet, showing the 52-year-old Dougherty a badge,” noted investigators.
The teen then approached his friend and “placed handcuffs on him” before walking him out of the store (with the Yu-Gi-Oh! cards). When the duo realized that Dougherty was following them, they fled on foot.
