Walmart Worker Penny Winters Charged With a Felony For Allegedly Swiping Oreos
Some people find it tempting to be around junk food and can't resist eating it. But in the case of Penny Winters, a 63-year-old maintenance worker, Walmart sees that as a criminal offense. Winters allegedly was caught by the store's surveillance cameras eating Oreos that she hadn't paid for during her evening shifts at a Walmart in Portage, Ind. In response, Walmart Stores Inc. notified police and Winters was charged with felony theft, which could result in jail time for the woman described by Chicago TV station WBBM as the "Oreo Grandma."
According to the report obtained by TheSmokingGun.com, Winters confessed to authorities that she had stolen cookies at the store in Portage, a city of 36,000 on the southern shore of Lake Michigan. And she's reportedly conceded that she's been eating -- and not paying for -- Oreos, gum and potato chips for more than eight years while working night shifts for Walmart. (The first seven years were spent at an Arizona location.)
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Why did she do it? According to TheSmokingGun, she told a Walmart investigator that she "simply did not have the monies to legitimately purchase the food items."
As was reported by CBS-affiliate WBBM, Winters has been earning $11.40 an hour at Walmart -- putting her above many of her colleagues at the giant retail chain, which employs about 1.4 million Americans. An incoming sales associate typically earns $8.87 an hour.
Walmart claims that it loses $3 billion a year from theft, most of it committed by employees. When asked by WBBM to comment on the charges against his mother, Winters' son reportedly was stunned." She's never been in trouble a day in her life," John Winters told the station.
After posting bail earlier this week, Penny Winters was released from jail as her case continues.
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Dan Fastenberg
Dan Fastenberg has more than a decade of experience working as a journalist. Most recently he was a reporter with TIME Magazine covering politics with analyst Mark Halperin. Previously, he was a writer for the Thomson Reuters news service's Latin America desk. He was also a reporter and associate editor for the Buenos Aires Herald while living in South America. Follow Dan on Twitter. Email Dan at daniel.fastenberg@teamaol.com. Add Dan to your Google+ circles.
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