A Walmart employee was arrested Tuesday morning for allegedly embezzling almost $8,000 from the store over a two month period earlier this year.
Jonathan Clay Allen, 31, who lists a Illinois Street address, was taken into custody around 8:30 a.m. and charged with theft of property over $5,000, punishable by up to 10 years in prison. Allen was being held on $3,500 bond and appeared Wednesday in Garland County District Court.
According to the probable cause affidavit, Alex Burgess, Walmart's loss prevention officer, reported a theft by an employee that occurred at the 4019 Central Ave. location between July and September 2018. Burgess alleged that Allen, who worked in the store's electronics department, had been making false returns on items and keeping the money.
Burgess said he was alerted to the thefts after a customer tried to return an item that Allen had already fraudulently returned. He said he checked Allen's receipts from July 21 to Sept. 20 and found that Allen had made a total of 38 fraudulent returns and subsequently stole $7,960.13.
Burgess was able to provide Hot Springs police with surveillance footage of all the returns by Allen as well as documentation showing each transaction.
Cory DeArmon, asset protection manager for Walmart, interviewed Allen about the thefts and Allen allegedly admitted to the thefts and provided a written confession. Allen allegedly stated he got "a rush" from stealing the money.
A warrant for Allen's arrest was issued on Sept. 25. Allen had no prior felony criminal history.
Local on 12/20/2018