A man and a woman were arrested earlier this month after they posed as state law enforcement agents and took a shoplifting suspect into custody, deputies say.

Deputies were called Jan. 15 to the Walmart store on Anderson Road about an altercation involving a woman suspected of shoplifting.

Store managers told deputies there was a woman in the loss prevention office who tried to conceal items for which she had not paid. The managers said there was also a man and woman involved who had identified themselves as State Law Enforcement Division agents.

The managers said the man and the woman who claimed to be agents got into a physical altercation with the shoplifting suspect while they were attempting to detain her.
The couple detained the woman and then took her to the loss prevention office, the managers said.

A deputy said Lawrence McConnell and Cheyenne Burrell identified themselves to him as SLED officers and claimed “they were acting on behalf of SLED and they had detained the woman inside the store.

The deputy said the shoplifting suspect identified herself as Ashley Hall.

McConnell and Burrell told store managers they were SLED agents and were trying to detain Hall, according to deputies.

Hall was cited on a shoplifting charge.
McConnell and Burrell, who are security guards but who are not employed by Walmart, are charged with impersonating law enforcement officers.