Man arrested for shoplifting meat from South Euclid Walmart: Where’s the beef?

SOUTH EUCLID, Ohio (WOIO) -A Garfield Heights man was arrested for the seventieth time after shoplifting a cart full of meat and a suitcase to put them in from a store, South Euclid Police confirmed.

Mason Hart Jr., 62, was booked into South Euclid jail for theft.

SEPD said loss prevention at the Walmart store on Warrensville Center Road called police to report a shoplifter pushed a shopping cart loaded with various cuts of packaged meats and a suitcase out of the store without paying for them on Jan. 5.

The suspect was then seen in the parking lot near Penn Station’s dumpster packing the meat inside the stolen suitcase, stated SEPD.

He threw out the meat he could not fit into the stolen suitcase in the dumpster, according to SEPD.

SEPD said the suspect abandoned the shopping cart in the parking lot after its security feature locked up its front wheel, which prevented him from continuing to push the shopping cart off Walmart’s property.

Officers stopped the suspect at the RTA bus stop across the street from Walmart and identified him as a Mason Hart Jr.

Hart Jr. already had several warrants, who of which from South Euclid, SEPD said.

SEPD said Hart admitted that he typically sells the meat he steals to restaurants, who pay him half the face value marked on the price tags.

Hart did not identify the restaurants but told police none of them were in the South Euclid area.

Walmart representatives told police the value of the items Hart Jr. stole totaled $447.90

Hart Jr. has been banned from all Walmart owned stores and properties. If he violates the order, he could face criminal trespassing charges.

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