Surveillance tape could prove key in stolen wallet case

Surveillance tape could end up sending someone to jail as the disappearance of a customer’s wallet at Favorite Market has police eyeing a suspect.

The surveillance tape, according to lawmen, shows a clerk at the store in possession of the customer’s wallet despite her insistence she has never seen the wallet. While the video itself could lead to charges, police say they want to talk to the woman, also captured on film, who found the wallet and can be seen handing it to the clerk.

“We need to talk to the woman who picked up the customer’s wallet and handed it to the clerk,” said McMinnville Police Investigator Derwin Adcock, noting the customer is not in trouble, but instead, is needed as a first-hand witness to the incident.

The chain of events began this week when the victim laid his wallet on top of a cooler near the checkout counter at Favorite Market located on New Smithville Highway. Surveillance tape suggests the man may have purchased a lottery ticket since he returns to the store minutes after his original purchase presumably to cash in a ticket.

It is on his return visit he walks by his wallet which is still lying on the cooler where he first laid it. However, he still does not realize he has left it there.

Several minutes later on the tape, police say a female customer notices the wallet, picks it up, and hands it to the cashier.

When the man returns seeking his wallet 45 minutes later, the cashier, whose name has not been released by police since she has not yet been charged, reportedly tells him she has never seen the wallet. Police say she still insists on never seeing it despite video evidence to the contrary.

For this reason, investigators want to talk to the woman who first found the wallet. Police are asking the woman to call them at 473-3386.