Police Bust Shoplifting Scheme

Police Put A Stop To A Walmart Shoplifting Scam

Idaho Falls Police arrested two men Monday who used fake receipts to steal thousands of dollars in merchandise from Walmart stores in Idaho and Utah.
Jerel Edward Lewis, 40, and Brandon Scott Gaskill, 39, both of Idaho Falls were arrested at their residence in the 1300 block of Ashment Avenue and booked into the Bonneville County Jail for burglary.
Joelyn Hansen, the Public Information Officer with the Idaho Falls Police Department, told East Idaho News that police received information that in the last 18 months that Lewis and Gaskill had used counterfeit receipts to steal from Walmart stores in Idaho Falls, Pocatello, Blackfoot, Rexburg, Twin Falls, Boise and Salt Lake City.
Gaskill and Lewis printed the receipts using photographed barcodes they obtained with their cell phone cameras. The men would return to the stores, take the merchandise and use the receipts if stopped by store employees.
Officers obtained a search warrant for the residence and recovered an estimated $7,500 in merchandise, including a 32’ flat screen television, Kitchen Aid mixer, Playstation 3 and a motorized scooter. Computers and printers were also confiscated.
The case remains under investigation.