On Tuesday, 48-year-old Petra Couchman presented a Walmart customer service representative with a bottle of laundry detergent saying she wanted to exchange it for a cheaper product. The exchange was made and she was given the difference in price which was approximately $16.05.
As she was leaving the store, loss prevention officers reviewed the security footage and found that she had not entered the store with the laundry bottle. In fact, she simply walked to the laundry detergent aisle, picked up the bottle and headed straight for the customer service counter with an old receipt that she found in the store’s parking lot.
Loss prevention officers told LaPorte police that they were alerted by employees that they saw Couchman picking up discarded sales receipts from the parking lot the previous week.
Counchman allegedly admitted to police that she had been doing this at several other businesses and got caught.
Petra Couchman will answer to a charge of Criminal Conversion in a yet-to-be-determined court date.
