Gainesville Kohl’s employee, girlfriend charged with grand theft
Gainesville FL June 5 2017 A Gainesville couple was arrested after they planned a scheme to steal hundreds of dollars’ worth of merchandise from Kohl’s department store on Archer Road, according to Gainesville police.
Melvin Young Jr., 34, entered Kohl’s on Saturday and selected hundreds of dollars’ worth of clothing and home goods, and went to a register where his girlfriend, Eboni Nykia Wheeler, 35, was working.
Wheeler, according to an arrest report, pretended to scan 21 items, totaling more than $650. Young left the store with the merchandise before being stopped by a law enforcement officer, the report says.
This was not the first incident in which Wheeler had schemed to defraud Kohl’s, according to the report.
Surveillance footage and a review of computer records showed on May 7, Wheeler entered an unauthorized discount of $100 off the final receipt for an unknown woman and man.
That same day, the same couple returned and went to Wheeler’s cash register to check out. Wheeler did not scan more than $200 worth of items, before bagging them and handing the bags to the couple, the report says.
And May 21, Wheeler entered an unauthorized discount, taking $99 off the final receipt for an unidentified shopper.
Wheeler admitted planning the theft with Young and giving unauthorized discounts to friends and family in the past, according to the report. Wheeler and Young were charged with grand theft and scheming to defraud, records show.
Wheeler was held in the Alachua County jail with bond set at $10,000. Young was to be released on his own recognizance.
gainesville.com
