Silver Lake Town Employee Suspended After Alleged Thefts
December 9, 2021 at 2:48 a.m.
Silver Lake Town Employee Suspended After Alleged Thefts
By Jackie Gorski-
Kendra Leann Wadkins, 36, of 206 E. Sycamore St., Silver Lake, is charged with two counts of theft, Class A misdemeanors.
Wadkins was booked into the Kosciusko County Jail at 6:32 p.m. Nov. 13 and 5:15 p.m. Monday, with bonds of $600 cash each time.
Silver Lake Clerk-Treasurer Tonya Conley said Wednesday that Wadkins was suspended Nov. 15 without pay until further investigations are done.
According to the probable cause affidavit, on Nov. 13, Warsaw police responded to a call from an asset protection employee at Walmart saying she had a woman, identified as Wadkins, sitting on the bench in the asset protection office and Wadkins allegedly had numerous items in her cart that were not paid for. Wadkins allegedly passed all points of sale and was stopped by asset protection.
According to a statement made by the Walmart employee, she was notified Wadkins was at a self-check out register and she looked like a suspect from previous incidents. The employee looked at the live camera shot of the register and recognized Wadkins as the same suspect.
Walmart employees used an app to verify Wadkins had scanned two containers of broth, but didn’t scan a snowman, according to court documents. A cashier was asked to ask if Wadkins needed help. Wadkins said she didn’t.
The asset protection employee went to the season aisles to watch Wadkins from the floor while another employee was in the Vision Center. One of the employees saw Wadkins was moving the hand scanner in the cart but was not scanning all the items, including laundry items, which was verified using the app.
After Wadkins paid for the transaction with a card, the asset protection employee approached Wadkins, identified herself and told Wadkins the employee wanted to talk to her and asked her to go to the office. Once in the office, the merchandise was separated.
There were allegedly 17 unpaid items totaling $181.99, according to court documents.
Warsaw police observed Wadkins sitting on the bench in the office. Wadkins said she didn’t have an ID on her, but provided her name and date of birth.
Police were shown a clip of the Walmart video surveillance footage, where police saw Wadkins didn’t scan some items. Police were given a printout with the 17 item not paid for located in Wadkins’ cart.
Wadkins was told by police she was being detained while police investigated the alleged theft. She was put in handcuffs.
Wadkins was asked if she had any Walmart products on her that were unpaid for. Wadkins allowed police to search her and her purse and she didn’t have any additional items.
Wadkins allegedly said she was using the handheld scanner and didn’t know some of the items didn’t scan. Warsaw police were provided footage of Wadkins using the handheld scanner, but police were unable to see all her movements.
The Walmart employee said there were a few other theft incidents being investigated and Wadkins is the suspect in those cases, but employees weren’t able to identify Wadkins until the Nov. 13 incident, according to court documents.
Police advised Wadkins of what was seen on the surveillance footage and she said she thought she scanned all the items.
According to another probable cause affidavit, those other incidents Wadkins was being investigated for occurred on Sept. 6, Oct. 2 and Oct. 11.
Wadkins allegedly scanned some items, but not others. She is accused of not paying for $131.36, $69.39 and $93.68 in items, respectively. The officer investigating those cases compared images from surveillance footage and determined Wadkins to be the suspect in those cases.
Kendra Leann Wadkins, 36, of 206 E. Sycamore St., Silver Lake, is charged with two counts of theft, Class A misdemeanors.
Wadkins was booked into the Kosciusko County Jail at 6:32 p.m. Nov. 13 and 5:15 p.m. Monday, with bonds of $600 cash each time.
Silver Lake Clerk-Treasurer Tonya Conley said Wednesday that Wadkins was suspended Nov. 15 without pay until further investigations are done.
According to the probable cause affidavit, on Nov. 13, Warsaw police responded to a call from an asset protection employee at Walmart saying she had a woman, identified as Wadkins, sitting on the bench in the asset protection office and Wadkins allegedly had numerous items in her cart that were not paid for. Wadkins allegedly passed all points of sale and was stopped by asset protection.
According to a statement made by the Walmart employee, she was notified Wadkins was at a self-check out register and she looked like a suspect from previous incidents. The employee looked at the live camera shot of the register and recognized Wadkins as the same suspect.
Walmart employees used an app to verify Wadkins had scanned two containers of broth, but didn’t scan a snowman, according to court documents. A cashier was asked to ask if Wadkins needed help. Wadkins said she didn’t.
The asset protection employee went to the season aisles to watch Wadkins from the floor while another employee was in the Vision Center. One of the employees saw Wadkins was moving the hand scanner in the cart but was not scanning all the items, including laundry items, which was verified using the app.
After Wadkins paid for the transaction with a card, the asset protection employee approached Wadkins, identified herself and told Wadkins the employee wanted to talk to her and asked her to go to the office. Once in the office, the merchandise was separated.
There were allegedly 17 unpaid items totaling $181.99, according to court documents.
Warsaw police observed Wadkins sitting on the bench in the office. Wadkins said she didn’t have an ID on her, but provided her name and date of birth.
Police were shown a clip of the Walmart video surveillance footage, where police saw Wadkins didn’t scan some items. Police were given a printout with the 17 item not paid for located in Wadkins’ cart.
Wadkins was told by police she was being detained while police investigated the alleged theft. She was put in handcuffs.
Wadkins was asked if she had any Walmart products on her that were unpaid for. Wadkins allowed police to search her and her purse and she didn’t have any additional items.
Wadkins allegedly said she was using the handheld scanner and didn’t know some of the items didn’t scan. Warsaw police were provided footage of Wadkins using the handheld scanner, but police were unable to see all her movements.
The Walmart employee said there were a few other theft incidents being investigated and Wadkins is the suspect in those cases, but employees weren’t able to identify Wadkins until the Nov. 13 incident, according to court documents.
Police advised Wadkins of what was seen on the surveillance footage and she said she thought she scanned all the items.
According to another probable cause affidavit, those other incidents Wadkins was being investigated for occurred on Sept. 6, Oct. 2 and Oct. 11.
Wadkins allegedly scanned some items, but not others. She is accused of not paying for $131.36, $69.39 and $93.68 in items, respectively. The officer investigating those cases compared images from surveillance footage and determined Wadkins to be the suspect in those cases.
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