Jon Johnson File Photo/Gila Herald: A man who has been apprehended multiple times for shoplifting from Walmart was jailed after being caught stealing a bottle of vodka during the store’s Black Friday event.
By Jon Johnson
SAFFORD – A man who has been arrested three previous times for shoplifting at Walmart was caught boosting booze from the store during its Black Friday event.
An officer working a security detail at Walmart at 755 S. 20th Ave. was informed by a customer that they had seen another customer conceal a bottle of alcohol. The officer followed the suspect and attempted to contact the store’s asset protection supervisor. The supervisor informed the officer that the store could not stop the suspect from leaving because he had not witnessed the theft.
The officer continued to follow the suspect, however, and after he left the store another officer approached the suspect and asked if he had stolen a bottle of liquor.
The suspect then removed a bottle of Smirnoff vodka from his backpack and said he had stolen it because he heard it was easy to steal from Walmart and that he needed it because he had a hangover and was also coming down from meth.
The suspect first told officers his name was Mario Stanley, but after no such individual was found in the police record search, the suspect admitted he was actually Mario Lorenzo Sanchez, 30, previously of Bylas.
Records indicated that Sanchez had been trespassed from Walmart and that he had been apprehended three previous times for stealing from the store.
Sanchez was then transported to the Graham County Adult Detention Facility and booked on charges of shoplifting, criminal trespass in the third degree, and false reporting to law enforcement.
