LUFKIN, TX (KTRE) -
A Lufkin
Crime Stoppers tip led to the arrest of the Nacogdoches man who allegedly
loaded a 46-inch television into a buggy at Walmart and walked right out the
front door with it without paying for it on Dec. 17, 2012.
Further
investigation by Lufkin Police Department detectives revealed that the suspect
was also allegedly responsible for stealing four flashlights at the Academy
Sports & Outdoors store located at 2912 Brentwood.
Christopher
Paul Griffin, 31, is still being held in the Angelina County Jail on theft
between $50 and $500 charges after being arrested Thursday. Each charge is a
Class B misdemeanor. Collectively, his bond has been set at $3,000.
According
to the arrest affidavit, officers from the LPD responded to a theft call at the
Walmart store located at 2500 Daniel McCall Drive. A store loss prevention
officer told the officers that a white male had stolen a 46-inch TV. A witness
told Walmart employees that the white quickly left the store with the TV in a
buggy and loaded it into a vehicle.
The loss
prevention officer provided a security video that showed a white male in a gray
shirt and dark pants walk back to the store's electronics section, where he
browsed for a while before he selected a 46-inch TV and walked out the front
door without paying for it, the affidavit stated.
Although
the surveillance cameras did not pick up the vehicle, the witness said the
suspect got into a silver SUV that was possibly a 4Runner. The witness also
provided two possible license plate numbers, and LPD detectives traced one of
the license plate numbers to a SUV own by a Lufkin resident that matched the
witness's description.
On Feb.
25, the Lufkin Police Department received a phone call from a male caller that said
he had recognized the suspect from the Crime Stoppers video that ran on KTRE
News. The man said that he had originally called Crime Stoppers, but he had
been put on hold.
The
caller told the LPD officer that he had rented a house to the suspect years ago
and said that the man from the surveillance video was Griffin. In addition, the
caller said Griffin was probably living in Lufkin and driving an older white
Cadillac Escalade.
LPD
detectives compared the video to Griffin's driver's license photo and decided
that he was indeed the suspected TV thief.
The
arrest warrant for the second theft charge stated that LPD officers responded
to a theft call at Academy Sports & Outdoors on Jan. 4. The store manager
told the officers that a white man, later identified as Griffin, came into the
store and allegedly took four flashlights valued at $114.96 without paying for
them. Griffin gave the cashier his driver's license, and the individual made a
copy of it.
The store
manager said Griffin left the store and got into a red Chevrolet four-dour "dually"
pickup with a large chrome box in the bed of the truck. After the truck made a
circle in Academy's parking lot, Griffin returned to the store and tried to
return the stolen merchandise.
When the
store manager confronted Griffin about the alleged theft, Griffin allegedly
fled the store on foot, got into the red pickup, and left the Academy parking
lot, the affidavit stated.
"[The
store manager] advised that the same truck has been involved in several thefts
at Academy," the affidavit stated.
LPD
detectives reviewed security camera footage from the Academy store and
confirmed that the suspect who allegedly took the flashlights was Griffin.
According
to Detective J.B. Smith, a spokesman for the Lufkin Police Department, an
officer spotted Griffin walking down First Street and took him into custody
after he realized that Griffin had two outstanding theft warrants.
Copyright 2013 KTRE. All rights reserved.
Christopher Griffin (Source: Angelina County jail)
