The Batesville Walmart Supercenter was one of several Walmart locations in Arkansas where “scams” were recently pulled.
These “scams” were pulled in other states as well. The suspect in this case has a Flushing, N.Y. address.
According to Independence Circuit Court records filed Tuesday, 36-year-old Florian Muntean came into the Batesville Walmart Friday, July 6 and purchased laptop computers, then conducted a “scam” while checking out by not fully paying for the merchandise.
Muntean was seen in video taking back some of the money while the cashier was distracted. The court record said store officials did an audit of the cash register the suspect checked out on. It showed the register to be $1,900 short.
Walmart’s asset protection employee, Greg Sims, informed local authorities that he was contacted by Walmart Asset Protection in Farmington, Mo., who said they had stopped a male subject who had refunded two laptop computers. The two computers showed to have been purchased at the Batesville Walmart. Video showed that the man involved in the refund was Florian Muntean who had “scammed” the Batesville store.
The court information said further investigation into the incident revealed that several individuals, including Florian Muntean, had conducted several thefts by “scam” all over the state of Arkansas at various Walmart locations and locations in other states as well.
The court record said that Florian Muntean had been charged in Trumann, Ark., for an incident that had the same method of operation as the incident in Batesville.
Investigating the case in Batesville was Lt. Kyle Williford, who said he was aware of similar scams in Newport, Searcy, and Cabot.
Muntean has been charged with two felonies: one count of commercial burglary and one count of theft of property. His bond was set at $25,000 cash.
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