By Matt Wiley
Some shoppers try to beat the Black Friday rush. Others try to beat the “everyday low prices” at Wal-Mart by walking right out the front door, something a Wesley Chapel man recently found out was not such a good idea.
According to the Pasco County Sheriff’s Office (PCSO), James Otis Jacobs, 28, of Angus Valley in Wesley Chapel, was arrested on Nov. 27 in the Wal-Mart located on Gall Blvd. in Zephyrhills on charges of petit and retail theft.
The PCSO report states that on Nov. 20, Jacobs was spotted on surveillance cameras stealing two tool sets valued at $98 each. On November 24, Jacobs again went to the Zephyrhills Wal-Mart Superstore, this time walking out with two cordless drills valued at $119 each. Again, Jacobs was identified using surveillance footage shot by Wal-Mart cameras and reviewed by the store’s loss prevention personnel.
On November 27, Jacobs was stopped as he entered the Wal-Mart and taken into custody by the Zephyrhills Police Department (ZPD). Following his arrest, Jacobs admitted to selling the stolen property for half of its value. He remains in custody at the Land O’Lakes Detention Center in lieu of a $300 bond for one charge each of petit theft of less than $300, petit theft of less than $100 and retail theft.
This isn’t the first time Jacobs has been arrested for theft. Most recently, he was arrested in September 2012 for petit theft of less than $300 by PCSO on a Hillsborough County warrant. He also was picked up for petit theft in June 2011, drug charges in February of 2011 and for dealing in stolen property in December of 2009, among numerous other run-ins with local law enforcement officials.
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