A Michigan woman is being charged after allegedly stealing items from Walmart by not scanning all of her items at the self-checkout.

Police say 34-year-old TeddyJo Marie Fliam was using the self-checkout at an Alpena County Walmart when loss prevention workers noticed she wasn’t scanning every item. Fliam became agitated and denied she was skipping items when confronted by a loss prevention worker and left the store, according to a report from Fox 2.

The incident caused the store to review its surveillance footage, which showed Fliam had stolen more than $1,000 in merchandise by not scanning it from the Walmart since April.

Fliam was arrested at her Alpena home last month and is charged with first-degree retail fraud.

The Alpena County Walmart’s loss prevention team has recently begun to crack down on thefts at the self-checkout, with Michigan State Police recording two similar incidents in which people were arrested after swapping barcodes while checking out items.

Walmart began using artificial intelligence to crack down on self-checkout thefts in 2019, using cameras to make sure every item that has been bagged was scanned.



The system, known internally as Missed Scan Detection, can monitor both self- and manned checkout stations and reports potential missed scans to an attendant who can investigate.



“Walmart is making a true investment to ensure the safety of our customers and associates,” a Walmart spokesperson said at the time. “Over the last three years, the company has invested over half a billion dollars in an effort to prevent, reduce and deter crime in our stores and parking lots. We are continuously investing in people, programs and technology to keep our stores and communities safe.”

LINK:
https://nypost.com/2022/10/23/...2c59b1525388f19b2c57

I have always wondered about this happening if the person had a really good lawyer and can claim to the judge that they were NEVER OFFICIALLY PROPERLY TRAINED on the proper way to scan the items, and if the judge would agree and they would be let go. God Bless

I hope they get a cell mate named Big Bubba.
I hate thieves.

Despite the theft, this probably costs them less than hiring actual humans to cashier. The human cashier can steal themselves, call off work, require insurance, and paid benefits.

In my experience working retail, the worst thieves was loss prevention.

Cell? For shoplifting???

Likely she'll get hit with a small fine (which she may never actually pay), and get kicked loose.

quote:

Originally posted by 41:
I hope they get a cell mate named Big Bubba.
I hate thieves.

quote:

Originally posted by VBVAGUY:
I have always wondered about this happening if the person had a really good lawyer and can claim to the judge that they were NEVER OFFICIALLY PROPERLY TRAINED on the proper way to scan the items, and if the judge would agree and they would be let go. God Bless

You condone theft? She knows how to scan. She is stealing.

One or two items in a dozen visits could be a mistake. Not what is described here.

jhe88

Did you watch the Tik Tok video of ATTORNEY Carrie Jernigan warning you about self serve checkouts? This tops the Camp Lejuene ads. Where the heck did these people attend Law school??

quote:

Originally posted by jhe888:

quote:

Originally posted by VBVAGUY:
I have always wondered about this happening if the person had a really good lawyer and can claim to the judge that they were NEVER OFFICIALLY PROPERLY TRAINED on the proper way to scan the items, and if the judge would agree and they would be let go. God Bless

You condone theft? She knows how to scan. She is stealing.

One or two items in a dozen visits could be a mistake. Not what is described here.

Sir I do NOT condone theft. I am the type of person that likes to think outside the box to see what a person may do to get out of the situation or what may be a legal loop hole. God Bless

Headline is a little misleading. The lady flat out stole item by intentionally not scanning items.

I have heard of people holding small, low value items such as kool aid packets or vegetable seeds packets over the barcode of high value items to give the impression of scanning the item.

Kind of ironic that the effort to pursue justice on this crime (and it was a crime and should be) and how so many other crimes including violent crimes, property crimes and more are intentionally avoided.
All with cashless bail.
You can just shoplift, and walkout and they do nothing but steal via self-scan they go after you?

It certainly sounds like this woman was intentionally stealing from the article.

BUT......

Walmart also has a history of falsely accusing people of doing these things, and then attempting to extort money out of them.

Many of the chain store self checkouts, in my area, are shutting down for just this reason.

quote:

Originally posted by VBVAGUY:

quote:

Originally posted by jhe888:

quote:

Originally posted by VBVAGUY:
I have always wondered about this happening if the person had a really good lawyer and can claim to the judge that they were NEVER OFFICIALLY PROPERLY TRAINED on the proper way to scan the items, and if the judge would agree and they would be let go. God Bless

You condone theft? She knows how to scan. She is stealing.

One or two items in a dozen visits could be a mistake. Not what is described here.

Sir I do NOT condone theft. I am the type of person that likes to think outside the box to see what a person may do to get out of the situation or what may be a legal loop hole. God Bless

It was just a question, I meant no offense.

I think that would be the kind of defense that would make things worse.

quote:

Originally posted by smschulz:
Kind of ironic that the effort to pursue justice on this crime (and it was a crime and should be) and how so many other crimes including violent crimes, property crimes and more are intentionally avoided.
All with cashless bail.
You can just shoplift, and walkout and they do nothing but steal via self-scan they go after you?

They in this case is WalMart. WalMart caught the woman, gathered the evidence and presented it to the police. This happened in Alpena, Mi, not for example, Detroit, Mi. There’s probably not a lot going on in Alpena. Also, according to Google, this isn’t the woman’s first rodeo, unless there are other Teddyjo Marie Fliams the same age running around.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Good point. Alpena is not crime central.

Little known aspect of shoplifting: Civil Demand actions.
This is where the retailer not only has you arrested and recovers the property, they file a civil action on the shoplifter to be reimbursed for the cost of the items "stolen". As a cop, I thought this was bullshit. I was always told that once they recovered the items shoplifted, that they could not be sold. When I asked what they did with these "unsellable" items, I never got an answer. My feeling was either arrest and prosecute criminally, or file civilly. But not both. And the civil demand was a waste of time since real, pro shoplifters ignored them. It appeared to me that civil demands were used mainly against kids whose parents would pay them. I campaigned against the stores using the PD as a tool with the civil demand situation in an effort to establish a policy that stated if a civil demand was going to used in a shoplifting complaint, then we would not arrest. But I got nowhere.

I've come across articles that said Walmart has also been wrongly accusing people of theft for a shakedown.

Here's one article where the woman was awarded $2.1 million. Woman Who Sued Walmart Over Shoplifting Arrest Is Awarded $2.1 Million

quote:

Originally posted by Rey HRH:
I've come across articles that said Walmart has also been wrongly accusing people of theft for a shakedown.

Here's one article where the woman was awarded $2.1 million. Woman Who Sued Walmart Over Shoplifting Arrest Is Awarded $2.1 Million

Isn't that the same woman that a1abdj posted about 6 posts ago?

No need to go deeper.
“Thou shall not steal.”

without going through all the mental gymnastics, whatever happened to just plain right and wrong