Retailers all over California have employees placed at store exits to check receipts as a person leaves as proof of purchase for merchandise. But are shoppers legally required to stop?

Most notably, Walmart has asset protection associates, formerly known as door greeters, at every entrance and exit of its stores. While some people choose to wait in line to get their receipts verified before leaving the store, others will breeze by without stopping.  

“It helps prevent theft,” said Caroline Falconer in response to a FOX40 social media post. “I don’t steal so I don’t have a reason to hide anything or avoid being checked.”

Falconer said she stops for employees because they have reason to check receipts against items in a person’s cart or bags, however, some other shoppers disagree.

“As soon as I give you money those items are now mine,” said David Mickelson. “Get a search warrant. And for those of you that say all this checking without a reason is just how it is, you are part of the problem.”

According to California penal code 490.5, also known as the “shopkeeper’s privilege law,” shoppers may not have to stop at exits to have their receipts checked.

The law states, “A merchant may detain a person for a reasonable time for the purpose of conducting an investigation in a reasonable manner whenever the merchant has probable cause to believe the person to be detained is attempting to unlawfully take or has unlawfully taken merchandise from the merchant’s premises.”

So, unless a store suspects that a person has committed a crime, they cannot legally force a person exiting a store to present a receipt.

What about Costco and Sam’s Club?

Retailers who offer memberships usually require a person to give consent to have their receipts and other personal property checked upon request.

The Costco terms and conditions for membership state, “Costco reserves the right to inspect any container, backpack, briefcase, or other bag, upon entering or leaving the warehouse and to refuse entry to anyone at our discretion.”

In addition, Costco’s terms for membership state, “To ensure that all members are correctly charged for the merchandise purchased, all receipts and merchandise will be inspected as you leave the warehouse.”

“We do this to double-check that the items purchased have been correctly processed by our cashiers,” Costco said on its website. “It’s our most effective method of maintaining accuracy in inventory control, and it’s also a good way to ensure that our members have been charged properly for their purchases.”

Sam’s Club uses the near-exact same verbiage as Costco in their membership general policies:

For merchandise, “Sam’s Club reserves the right to inspect any container, backpack, briefcase or other bag of any person upon entering or leaving any Sam’s Club location and to refuse entry to anyone at our discretion.“

For receipt-checking, the Sam’s Club policy reads, “To ensure that you are charged correctly for the merchandise you have selected, Sam’s Club may inspect or electronically scan your merchandise and electronic/phone or paper copy receipt(s) when you exit any Sam’s Club location.”

Not stopping to get a receipt or bag checked at Costco or Sam’s Club is not illegal, however, it would be a violation of the store’s policy and could result in membership being revoked.

An Orange County parolee was arrested after police spotted him in a stolen car filled with counterfeit cash and stolen credit cards.

The suspect was identified as Johnny Lucero Berlino, 31, of Huntington Beach, according to the Irvine Police Department.

On May 23, officers at the Irvine Spectrum shopping mall contacted the police after spotting the suspect’s car with a license plate that was reported lost/stolen.

Authorities arrived at the parking lot, spotted Berlino and took him into custody.

During the arrest, police discovered over $2,700 in counterfeit money, stolen mail and stolen credit cards belonging to other people inside Berlino’s car. 

Police confirmed the car was stolen and said the suspect had allegedly purchased the car with counterfeit cash.

Berlino was on parole for auto theft at the time.

He was arrested at the scene and booked at the Orange County Jail on multiple felony charges.

A man from Colorado was arrested at a Del Taco location after he allegedly stole a Mustang from a woman at a San Bernardino County gas station. 

A media release from the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department indicates that deputies were dispatched to the Shell station located at 8986 Deep Creek Road in Apple Valley just before 8 a.m. Thursday. 

“The suspect allegedly ran up behind a customer standing near her vehicle [and] attempted to grab her cellphone from her hand,” SBSD said. “The victim was able to hold on to her phone, but the suspect grabbed her 2014 Mustang GT car keys from her and pushed her to the ground.” 

After taking the keys, the suspect, identified as Jacob Naro of Pueblo, Colorado, ran toward the victim’s vehicle and attempted to start the engine, but was said to have been briefly stopped by a gas station attendant. 

“A gas station employee reached into the vehicle and attempted to remove Naro…[he] then allegedly pushed the gas station employee out of the vehicle onto the ground and drove away,” officials said. 

Upon locating the stolen Mustang, deputies initiated a pursuit, during which Naro drove on the wrong side of the road, did not stop at traffic signals, and drove with “complete disregard for public safety.” 

Naro, 28, eventually stopped the vehicle at a permanently closed Del Taco store located near CA-138 and the 15 Freeway in the community of Phelan; he was quickly taken into custody without further incident, authorities stated.

Exactly how long the pursuit lasted was not disclosed. 

The Colorado native was booked into the High Desert Detention Center for robbery, carjacking, felony evading and evading by driving in opposite lanes of traffic and was being held in lieu of $100,000 bail. 

Anyone with information that may aid the ongoing investigation is encouraged to contact A. Schwingel with the Victory Valley Sheriff’s Station by calling 760-552-6800. 

Anonymous tips can be submitted to WeTip by calling their hotline at 1-800-782-7463 or visiting www.wetip.com