A Lakeland man who demonstrated ingenuity in stealing from Home Depot got busted by his brazenness in ripping off Walmart, the Polk County Sheriff’s Office said.
The big-box bandit suspect is James Gardner, 57. Gardner was arrested Friday on two counts of grand theft between $300 and $5,000. He posted $2,000 bond Saturday.
PCSO investigators said they found Gardner hit a Lakeland Home Depot on Florida Avenue South several times between Feb. 5 and Feb. 13. He’d go in without anything, take stuff off the shelf, then head for the return desk.
Either staff there would accept the “return” and give Gardner a store credit on a gift card or wouldn’t accept the return. In that case, Gardner would walk out with the item. Many Home Depot return stations are near the store’s entrance, which isn’t as closely watched as the exit beyond the checkout lines.
When detectives got to Gardner’s house, they say, they found Home Depot gift cards and tools among loot they valued at $3,000.
But they got onto Gardner’s trail after his Thursday assault on a Walmart in Mulberry that lacked stealth.
Surveillance video showed Gardner loading up his shopping cart with two televisions, a safe, a backpack, toys “and other miscellaneous items,” then march out the store. Gardner certainly wasn’t either Ralph Ellison or Claude Rains’ version of an Invisible Man, so a Walmart employee followed him outside and noted Gardner’s red Ford truck and license plate.
That’s how investigators wound up at Gardner’s home on Friday.
This story was originally published February 20, 2019 2:51 PM.
