COLUMBUS, Ind. (WDRB) -- An undercover sting led to more than a dozen arrests at an Indiana retail giant.
Columbus Police said shoplifting and other criminal activity are an ongoing problems at several retail stores there, and that led to the recent sting and arrests.
"It was bad," said Robin Collins, a former Walmart employee.
Collins worked at Walmart on Whitfield Drive for 12 years. She said, despite surveillance cameras in plain sight, shoplifting has been a problem for years.
"When I was up front, and I was a CSM, when the police would catch them, if it was a female, one of us had to go in with them," Collins said.
Lt. Matthew Harris, with Columbus Police Department, said a call from Walmart's loss prevention led to an undercover sting Thursday.
"From soda on up to, switching price tags, to just a number of different things," Harris said. "They had reached out to us and wanted us to work with our officers, and we wanted to, not only focus on theft but also other crimes that are associated with shoplifting."
And in just a few hours, there was a lot of activity.
"We arrested 16 people, 20 on felony charges," Harris said. "From possession of heroin and methamphetamine on down to shoplifting and warrants."
Harris said it was not the first undercover sting at a local retailer and won't be the last.
"We definitely want people to think twice about shoplifting because, like I said, you don't know if law enforcement is going to be at that particular store on that day," Harris said.
Collins is a little shocked by some of the items the suspects are accused of stealing but not the number of alleged shoplifters.
"And some of the stuff they stole was pretty ridiculous," she said. "I wasn't surprised. It's probably more than that."
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