Share and Follow
A MIDDLE school principal has been accused of stealing at Walmart and he gave cops a bizarre excuse when he was confronted.
Gregory Lewis, 54, allegedly stole items at self-checkout using a sick trick known as “skip-scanning.”
Lewis was arrested at Walmart in Winter Haven, Florida, on Saturday, according to the Winter Haven Police Department.
He was ringing up items at around 1:30 pm when workers noticed him place a bag of disposable foam plates between more costly items, WHPD wrote in an arrest affidavit obtained by NBC affiliate WFLA.
Lewis allegedly stole a large pack of light bulbs, bacon, and frozen butterfly shrimp.
The items cost $37.45 in total.
When police confronted him, he allegedly admitted to skip-scanning, which involves customers paying for some items and not others.
He told cops his friends had gotten away with stealing from stores using the same method and he wanted to try it.
“We sit around talking, ‘Hey I did this,'” Lewis told cops in body camera footage from his arrest.
“Let me try and see what I can get away with.”
He added, “I did something dumb today and I understand it.”
However, Lewis had stolen from the same Walmart using the method before, according to the arrest affidavit.
Lewis was booked at the Polk County Jail on Saturday on a charge of petit theft.
His mug shot shows him looking dazed and wearing an orange jumpsuit.
He was released the next day after paying a $250 bond.
Lewis became the principal at Edward W. Bok Academy North in August 2024, according to a Facebook post at the time.
He no longer works at the school in Lake Wales, Florida, 53 miles south of Orlando, officials told The U.S. Sun.
Walmart shoplifting arrests
- Ashley Cross was caught on security cameras using an old watch battery barcode to scan expensive products for just $1
- Ex-officer Mark Leenerts stole $317.88 worth of merchandise from Walmart stores in Topeka, Kansas
- Jeremiah Boyer raked in $52,800 in fees on 874 orders while working for Walmart’s online delivery service Spark
- Brent Adam Brooks, of Sylva, North Carolina, was arrested after trying to steal a $198 Frigidaire ice maker
- Kabreshia Caldwell targeted innocent senior citizen customers at Walmart stores across Northeast Florida, stealing a total of $10,000
- Katherine Gordon allegedly stole $80 worth of groceries by replacing barcodes on certain produce items
Alricky Smith, the interim superintendent for Lake Wales Charter Schools, had no further comment on the arrest.
It’s unclear if Lewis was fired or quit and he refused to comment when approached by WFLA.
Last summer, a rise in skip-scanning led cops to enforce more patrols as arrests skyrocketed.
A shocking survey in 2023 revealed nearly 20% of American shoppers admitted to skip-scanning items, The U.S. Sun previously reported.
