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Walmart Uses DNA To Identify Shoplifter

Written by Evan Schuman
September 4th, 2012

DNA: It isn’t just for murders anymore. In its loss-prevention defenses against shoplifters, Walmart has started to use DNA testing. In this instance, the shoplifter was courteous enough to leave blood samples on a jewelry case he had smashed. According to the Charlotte County (Florida) sheriff’s office, 20-year-old Tyler Ray Kerry did a smash and grab for 33 rings from Walmart. He covered his hand with a sock, but that was apparently not sufficient to stop him from getting cut. (He actually used a hammer to break the case, but he then reached in with his socked hand.)

When authorities sent in the bloodwork, it matched Kerry, given that he had been jailed 15 times before. One of those times—the reason he was already in jail when they came to charge him with this shoplifting offense—he had broken into a home to steal TVs and tools. Biometrics got him that time, too, when he was IDed with his fingerprints. Instead of stealing Walmart jewelry, maybe he should invest in a really good pair of gloves? You’d have thought the fingerprint nab would done the trick.

Posted in In-Store, IT Strategy/Industry, Security/Fraud
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