By Danielle Eden C. Silva
On Monday in Department 14, the preliminary hearing of Anthony Segura concluded. Mr. Segura is accused of stealing from the Woodland Walmart Neighborhood Market at the County Fair Fashion Mall on multiple occasions. He is currently charged with a felony of grand theft, three shoplifting misdemeanors, and three enhancements.
The preliminary hearing focused on the felony charge, with the prelim for the misdemeanors waived. Deputy Public Defender Emily Fisher noted that the amount taken from the Walmart needed to be clarified.
The first witness was sworn in. The witness currently works as a loss and prevention employee at the Walmart. He had been told about the theft by management and had been involved in the shoplifting investigation.
The first incident, February 4, 2018, involved a man exiting the store through the fire exit with a full cart of Tide pod laundry detergent. A cover had been placed over the cart to obscure what was inside.
The defense then noted that the witness had been referring to notes for his testimony and requested that be restricted. Referring to notes would conflict with his independent recollection of the 
testimony. The court agreed.
The witness confirmed the subject never made an attempt to pay for the Tide pods and the assistant manager had made a receipt listing the missing product. Only one page of the listing was presented in court, but the total came to $1,489.45. A single package of Tide pods of the variety stolen could cost between $20-26. The defendant was then identified as one of the subjects, the other being described as a Caucasian male with short grayish hair. The defendant had held the door open as the other man pushed the cart out.
On February 15, the defendant came in with a female. While the defendant opened the fire exit, the woman went out of the front door with a cart of propane tanks costing $175.96.
The witness began to note an incident concerning a tote full of shrimp but, after being shown notes by the prosecution, the witness recalled that on February 2, 2018, the defendant had a tote of shrimp and went to the bathroom. He then went out of the fire exit by himself. From the tote, one package of shrimp could be seen.
The witness shared he had never met the defendant in person, only seeing him through video.
During cross-examination, the witness clarified he remembered the events but the specifics were clarified in his notes. He had a report on February 4 and February 15 on the stand with him.
The reports he had came from his reports which were submitted on February 21. This late submission date was because he needed to contact the Woodland Police Department and gain more information.
To clarify the amount in question, the witness went into unclear detail as to how the system for inventory works. The store tracks purchases and compares it to the amount of inventory recorded on the shelves by hand count. The department manager takes inventory of what is missing from the shelves daily. Usually, only one or two packages of Tide pods are stolen, but the amount missing on this occasion totaled to over $1,400.
The defense concluded their examination of this witness with confirming the witness did not look at the video earlier.
In redirect with the prosecution, the witness shared that they had difficulty remembering all the details because they were also looking over 15 other incidents. While he needed to refer to notes, he still remembered the event.
With the first witness excused, the second witness, another employee at Walmart, was sworn in.
That witness works as an assistant manager who noted that on February 13 he noticed a suspicious person. The subject had pushed a cart into the Walmart and the witness followed. After informing a manager and trailing the suspicious person, the witness noted the person got a tote full of shrimp. The witness stood by the fire exit and the manager stood by the front of the store, thereby deterring the theft. The suspicious person then left the tote full of 13 to 14 packages of shrimp at $14.98 a package on the cashier’s counter and left. After this incident, the assistant manager wrote a report, stating the total to be $159.61. Likely the tote was left because the witness and manager had discouraged the theft attempt.
After the second employee had been excused, Officer Parveen Lal was sworn in and testified.
Officer Lal is a police officer in Woodland and had been dispatched to the Walmart to meet the first witness. The officer received information on the incidents of February 2, 3, 4, and 5 of 2018. Officer Lal then identified the defendant as the one eventually arrested by another officer on February 21. The defendant had admitted he was a heroin addict and stole and sold Tide products to fuel his addiction. The officer also noted that the defendant admitted he acted alone.
Officer Lal was excused and the defense submitted with reservations. The defense claimed there was no competent evidence for a felony charge as one of the witnesses didn’t understand half of the questions asked. The court clarified that the stealing of Tide pods, while apparently common, was not the issue, but the unusual volume taken was.
The court ruled the People had established probable cause and all counts and felonies would be charged as the sophisticated system for tracking inventory had been made evident. The arraignment is to occur on May 4, 2018, in Department 14.
After the ruling, the defense shared they were still waiting for the surveillance video. The defense also requested that personal property be returned to the defendant’s family, as the Woodland Police Department was withholding the defendant’s car and personal items, and there was fear they may destroy them. Judge David Rosenberg ruled all items not in relation to the case were to be returned to the defendant’s family.
