Theft suspects arrested at Copperas Cove Wal-Mart
By LYNETTE SOWELL
Cove Leader-Press
A man and a woman were arrested by Copperas Cove police on Saturday after walking out of Wal-Mart with more than $1,700 in unpaid merchandise to include toys, tools, hover boards, cooking items, cans of spray paint, headphones, curtains, a Cricut 3, Cricut vinyl, a television, and backpacks, with both of them then resisting arrest after police attempted to apprehend them.
Anthony Cruz Atoigue and Cheryl Lynn Bautista were both booked into the Coryell County jail, where they remained as of Monday, with bond amount unlisted.
According to the arrest affidavit, Wal-Mart Asset Protection in Copperas Cove called police around 5:39 p.m., when they identified Atoigue and Bautista loading items into a shopping cart in the store, and the two were theft suspects at several Wal-Mart stores in the central Texas area.
Atoigue “normally carries a hatchet on his person which he displays when he is attempted to be apprehended,” and the couple also had a specific “MO”, in which Atoigue would go outside and purchase a soda, and be on the lookout for police, while Bautista would wheel the shopping cart of unpaid items out of the store.
This time around on Saturday, the Asset Protection staff at Wal-Mart notified police, then followed the couple in the store as they “shopped.” True to MO, Atoigue went outside to purchase his soda.
When the two officers arrived at Wal-Mart, Atoigue had gone back inside to meet Bautista and the two had wheeled the cart full of unpaid, unbagged items out of the Garden Center.
When the officer told Atoigue to stop, Atoigue did not, and said he wasn’t responsible for the items and had paid for his soda. The officer then chased Atoigue down, who resisted arrest, and was ultimately leg-swiped and handcuffed. Bautista also fled, and began resisting arrest as well while police attempted to handcuff her, and that she continued to use force to pull away and refused to follow the officer’s orders.
Additionally, Bautista was charged with a 3rd degree felony, prohibited item in a correctional facility, when a pipe with methamphetamine residue was found in her shirt, after she was booked into the police department.
Wal-Mart gave a grand total for the stolen items of $1,749.67. Both offenses are level A misdemeanors. It is not known at this time which other Wal-Mart stores in Central Texas the couple is suspected of stealing from.