Walmart trip proves costly to man

The Sahuarita Sun

A Tucson man was cited on suspicion of shoplifting at Walmart in Sahuarita on Feb. 4, after police say he: Stole a digital camera; ditched his wife at the store; drove a short distance to Bashas’ and parked; was soon arrested after being easily identified by his Oregon license plate; lied to police, saying he had left the camera in the barbecue aisle of the store; and finally led police to the place where he had thrown the camera from an Interstate 19 on-ramp.

John Jaggers, 44, was cited about 8:30 p.m. Police said he went to the store with his wife, and told her he was planning to buy electronics with his income tax refund. While in the electronics section he took a laptop computer and digital camera to the automotive section and tried to remove them from their packaging, according to a court report. The security tag and packaging kept him from getting the laptop out of the box, but he turned to the camera, got it out and put it in his pocket, the report said.

Police said Jagger then left the store without paying for the camera and when confronted by security, got in his car and drove off without his wife. Police got the license plate number from store security and discovered with the help of store security that Jaggers’ wife was not culpable, and they quickly arrested him at the Bashas’ store in the connected parking lot of an adjacent shopping center.

When told that his actions were on security cameras, he admitted that he could not get the laptop out of the packaging, but told police he had left the camera in the barbecue aisle. He was taken there to search for it, and after he could not locate it, Jagger said he had taken it from the store, driven south on Interstate 19 to the Canoa Road exit, left the highway and returned at that exit, and threw the camera into the weeds from the northbound on-ramp at Canoa Road.

Police took him there and the camera was found near the speed limit sign and Jaggers was cited and released at the scene.