An employee of a local home improvement store was arrested Wednesday night on a felony warrant after allegedly stealing over $1,600 from the store over a one-month period.
Antoinette Denise Montgomery, 33, who lists a Scully Street address, was taken into custody in the 500 block of Malvern Avenue shortly before 9:30 p.m. and charged with theft of property over $1,000, punishable by up to six years in prison.
Montgomery, who lists no prior criminal history, was later released on a $2,500 bond and is set to appear Feb. 11 in Garland County District Court.
According to the probable cause affidavit, on Jan. 21, Jana Jones, the asset protection manager for Lowe's, 300 Cornerstone Blvd., filed a report alleging an employee, identified as Montgomery, took $1,613.29 from the business from Dec. 11, 2019, through Jan. 3, 2020, in three separate transactions.
The first transaction on Dec. 11 was for $19.46 followed by two more on Jan. 3 for $91.91 and then $1,510.92. The affidavit notes Montgomery would allegedly accept exchanges from customers and after the customer left she would return the product again and add the dollar amount to either a gift card or credit card.
Detective Shawn Stillian reportedly observed security footage of the three transactions, which showed Montgomery accepting a return and then returning it again and adding it to a gift card or credit card which "she is clearly seen putting into her pants pocket and walking away from the register."
Stillian compared Montgomery's driver's license photo to the video footage to confirm her identity and a warrant for her arrest was issued on Tuesday.
Local on 01/31/2020