Crime & Safety

Two Charged in Walmart Battery, Detergent Thefts, Police Say

Colonial Regional Police have filed charges in two separate retail theft cases at the Lower Nazareth Walmart.

This post was reported and written by Jack Tobias

Colonial Regional Police have filed charges in two separate retail theft cases at the Lower Nazareth Walmart—one for the alleged January theft of almost $1,100 in vehicle batteries and the other for the alleged theft of about $54 in laundry detergent in May.

Woody Justin Adams, 35, of 31 Reservoir Road in the Warren County community of Stewartsville, is accused of stealing 12 vehicle batteries on Jan. 28 and two vehicle batteries two weeks earlier on Jan. 14.

Daniel Omar Nieves, 29, of 113 Orchard St. on Easton’s South Side is accused of taking the detergent on May 25, and giving police a false identity. He tried to pass himself off as a South Bethlehem man and at first succeeded, court records say.

In the batteries case, Officer Ronald Nigro said he spoke to an asset protection officer at the Northampton Crossings Walmart shortly before 2 p.m. Jan. 28.

The store official said he saw Adams place 12 vehicle batteries in a shopping cart, then place his coat over the batteries and leave the store without paying.

The official said he tried but failed to stop Adams in the parking lot but was able to get the New Jersey license plate number of Adams’ silver 2000 Saturn, according to the criminal complaint filed by Nigro.

Nigro eventually obtained Adams’ photo, which matched the man captured on surveillance video as taking the batteries, the complaint says.

Nigro also learned that Adams was wanted for taking two vehicle batteries at the same Walmart on Jan. 14.

An arrest warrant for Adams was approved Jan. 29. Adams’ file does not explain what enabled police to take him into custody this week.

He was arraigned Thursday by District Judge Joseph Barner of Lower Nazareth on two counts of retail theft and committed to Northampton County Prison in lieu of $5,000 bail.

In the laundry detergent case, Nieves was in custody inside the store when Officer Jeff Waselus arrived around 5:30 p.m. May 25.

A store official told the officer that he saw Nieves put laundry detergent into a shopping cart then go to the men’s department, remove gray plastic Walmart bags from his pocket and place the detergent into the bags. He then placed the bags into the cart.

Nieves identified himself to the officer and the store official as a man born Dec. 16, 1982 and living on the 700 block of E. Third Street in South Bethlehem. Nieves’ actual date of birth is Oct. 27, 1983, according to Waselus’ criminal complaint.

Waselus could not get a computer hit on the South Bethlehem man, and he warned Nieves he would be charged with false identification if he was providing a false ID.

But Nieves insisted he was the South Bethlehem man, the complaint says. Nieves said he was considering giving a false name “but didn’t want to get into any more trouble.”

The officer eventually got a computer hit on the South Bethlehem man. He issued Nieves a non-traffic citation for retail theft and Nieves signed it with the name of the South Bethlehem man.

The next day, however, Waselus obtained a photo of the South Bethlehem man and realized he was not the man he had charged in the Walmart theft. Using a variety of police and state transportation records, he identified the alleged thief as Nieves. An arrest warrant was approved June 13.

Nieves was charged with retail theft – a level-three felony rather than a misdemeanor because of three previous retail theft convictions. He also was charged with forgery–also a level-three felony–as well as false identification to law enforcement officers and identity theft.

He was arraigned Thursday by on-duty District Judge John Capobianco of Nazareth and committed to Northampton County Prison in lieu of $2,500 bail.


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