An assistant manager at a supermarket is accused of staging an armed robbery at his own store in an attempt to score some quick cash.
St. Bernard Sheriff’s officials said the incident happened at 12:45 a.m. on Tuesday at the Winn-Dixie store on Paris Road. The supermarket had closed for the night when, according to the initial report, a man approached assistant manager Bryant Walker, age 54, and struck him with what appeared to be a handgun and forced him to open the store safe.
Within hours of the report, however, investigators determined the robbery was staged and the thief was a friend of the “victim.”
“(It) just didn’t feel right,” Sheriff James Pohlmann said. “Based on the evidence our detectives found, I don’t know how the two of them thought they would get away with this.”
That evidence included witness descriptions of a getaway van that was later traced back to Walker. An oil spot left at the scene matched one found on Walker’s home driveway. #EPIC FAIL
A toy water gun believed to be the “weapon” used in the “attack” was also recovered near the store. And when detectives reviewed footage from a surveillance camera, they knew that Walker’s claim that he failed to get a good look at the robber was definitely not truthful.
Officials said Walker soon changed his story and said that the assailant his friend, 39-year-old Travis P. Nobles, of New Orleans.
When questioned, Nobles claimed the entire event had been staged. Investigators said Walker later conceded the same. Both men were charged with felony theft over $5,000. The missing funds had not been recovered as of late Tuesday.