Detroit teenager wanted for shoplifting at Walmart nearly 100 times arrested in Pittsburgh area

A Detroit teenager wanted for shoplifting nearly 100 times at Walmart stores across the country was arrested in the Pittsburgh area, authorities announced on Friday. 

The Westmoreland County District Attorney’s Office said 18-year-old Andrew Reed was arrested in the parking lot of the Walmart in North Huntingdon, Pennsylvania, on Thursday. Investigators said they believe he’s responsible for a cross-country retail theft spree that spanned multiple states.

According to the district attorney’s office, North Huntingdon police were called to the Walmart on Mills Drive for a theft in progress on Thursday. Police said an employee saw a man trying to make a fraudulent purchase at a self-checkout. Employees intercepted Reed, and he left the store without the merchandise, which police said was worth more than $2,100. 

Police identified Reed after they stopped him in the parking lot, the district attorney’s office said. 

North Huntingdon police said they learned Reed had several active warrants across the United States and had been “trespassed indefinitely” from Walmart in Indiana, Florida and Arkansas. Reed was responsible for 97 separate incidents in Walmart’s loss prevention database, totaling more than $146,000, the district attorney’s office said. 

Reed was arraigned on charges of retail theft, theft by deception, criminal use of a communication facility and trespassing, according to the district attorney’s office. He was denied bail.