Justin Chase Peters

WARSAW — After a customer dropped their wallet in the Walmart parking lot, an employee found it and attempted to steal the $4,400 inside.

Justin C. Peters, 24, South Whitley, was sentenced on one count of theft, a level 6 felony, on July 31 in Kosciusko Circuit Court.

Pursuant to a plea agreement, Peters’ conviction was dropped to a class A misdemeanor. Judge Michael Reed sentenced Peters to one year at the Kosciusko County Sheriff’s Department. That sentence was suspended to be served on probation.

According to the affidavit of probable cause, an officer with the Warsaw Police Department responded to the theft of a wallet at Walmart on Feb. 24.

The officer spoke with the victim who stated he had placed his wallet on the exterior of his pickup truck while loading packages. He then drove off without grabbing it. Inside the wallet was over $4,400.

The officer reviewed Walmart surveillance footage and discovered a male later identified as Peters picking up the wallet in the parking lot. He can then be seen looking through the wallet and entering the bathroom. The officer retrieved the wallet from the men’s restroom trash bin. The $4,400 was missing.

A Warsaw Detective located Peters at his South Whitley home. Peters agreed to discuss the theft and admitted to picking up the billfold and removing the money.

Peters retrieved the money from the top shelf of his closet, totaling $4,441, and gave it to the officer.