A Florida Walmart employee’s theft scheme was uncovered after allegedly raking up to $52000 in less than a year, leading to his arrest. The 43-year-old Florida man identified as Jeremiah Boyer worked as a delivery driver for the store and allegedly engaged in an “organized scheme to defraud” from April 4, 2024, until his arrest this month. According to reports from the Port St. Lucie Police Department, the suspect stands accused of intentionally failing to fulfill orders within the period in view.
Boyer allegedly targeted orders involving heavy items through the Spark delivery service, with the intent to pocket the heavy item fee. The Walmart employee’s theft scheme thrived for nearly a year as the employee exploited an apparent loophole in the system that allowed Spark delivery drivers to receive the extra fee for heavy items even if listed, but not delivered.
Investigations revealed that the Florida man had been using fake names and accounts to place orders for such heavy items since April last year. He would then mark the items as “not found,” allowing him to pocket the heavy items fee without actually lifting a finger to deliver the order. Police claim the Walmart employee has filed 874 heavy item orders so far, racking up to $52,800 in additional fees since launching his theft scheme. A Walmart investigator tracking the employee referenced one occasion when the Florida Man flagged an order of 60 water bottles as “not found,” but ended up receiving a $47 heavy fee payment.
Despite the gravity of his theft and the huge amount involved, Jeremiah Boyer insists he committed no crime. Police arrested him on February 18, in Port St. Lucie, Florida. Officers revealed that when confronted, the Walmart employee claimed “he did not feel he committed a crime.” He faces charges of an organized scheme to defraud, in connection with the Walmart delivery theft.
Fraudulent schemes in big stores like Walmart is more rampant among employees, especially when negligible loopholes exist in the system, making it difficult to track missing funds. Back in December, a Walmart employee in Leesburg was busted after a fellow employee caught him putting refunded money in his personal bank card, without actually returning the items.
The employee, 29-year-old Besham Roopnarine filed at least 3 refunds to his bank card within 24 hours, failing to return any of the items in question. Another employee observed his fraudulent act only after reviewing the CCTV camera and electronic journals which hinted at the discrepancies.
Upon his arrest Roopnarine admitted to the crime claiming he needed cash at the time, prompting him to resort to the retail theft. While the cases of Roopnarine and Boyer saw befitting resolutions bringing an end to their criminal actions, hundreds more go undiscovered daily, with employees raking up cash they never actually worked for, leaving the companies to bear the losses. Oftentimes, such fraudulent employees deem their misconduct too negligible to pass for a crime considering these big stores may not notice a few missing pennies. Perhaps, that explains the reasoning behind the Florida Walmart employee’s failure to admit his crime and show some level of remorse for the theft.
