A Riverton man is accused of shoplifting more than $2,000 in football trading cards and other merchandise from Walmart over a three-month spree this summer, then dodging police phone calls when they tried to find him.
Andy Titus, 43, has an Oct. 1 preliminary hearing following his Sept. 11 arrest, charged with one count of felony aggregate theft involving 15 alleged shoplifting incidents between May and the beginning of August, according to an affidavit filed in Fremont County Circuit Court.
Titus is accused of skip-scanning from a self-checkout station, which is a form of shoplifting whereby a person scans a cheaper item in place of a more expensive one or pretends to scan the product before placing it in their bag.
Titus repeatedly would hold Post-it notes or packets of seasoning under the much more expensive sports cards and other items as he scanned them at self-service registers. The transactions were all caught on store surveillance cameras.
If found guilty, Titus faces up to 10 years in prison, a fine of no more than $10,000, or both.
Post-it Notes
Riverton Police Department Sgt. Stephen Sullivan was called to the store July 21 by a Walmart asset protection associate who presented him the theft case she had assembled over the past three months.
The first alleged theft happened May 8, when Titus held the package of Post-it notes under two boxes of football cards, valued at $24.96 each, paying only for the notes and other items in his cart, but not the football cards, according to the affidavit.
In a separate incident May 31, Titus allegedly used a $1.56 package of Post-it notes to skip-scan six boxes of football cards in the same manner worth a total of just under $215.
Two days later, he returned and allegedly again used a package of Post-it notes to steal four boxes of football cards as well as mozzarella sticks and popcorn shrimp worth more than $116.
On other occasions, he’s accused of using packets of pepper gravy and taco seasoning to steal more boxes of football cards, as well as Swiffer wet cloths, vitamins, cold medicine, a Barbie doll and a package of envelopes, among other items, court documents state.
In one case, Titus allegedly used a bag of potatoes to steal another package of potatoes for a value of under $5.
In total, Titus is accused of stealing upward of 70 packets or boxes of football trading cards and other merchandise totaling $2,220 over the three-month period.
Dodging Calls
Titus was confronted by the Walmart associate Aug. 8 and was trespassed from the store with a written notice.
Sgt. Sullivan called multiple times to leave voice messages for Titus between Aug. 8 and Sept. 10 with no response from Titus, according to the affidavit.
With no response, Sullivan then identified Titus by his Facebook photo that matched the person in the store surveillance images and confirmed his identity with his the security director at Central Wyoming College, where Titus is employed as a grounds supervisor, according to the college directory.
Titus did not respond to Cowboy State Daily’s request for comment.
He’s free on a $10,000 bond awaiting his arraignment in Circuit Court at 10 a.m. Oct. 1.
Jen Kocher can be reached at jen@cowboystatedaily.com.
