Alabama woman falsely accused of shoplifting awarded $2.1 million in Walmart settlement 

Imagine trying to extort $200 and end up paying $2.1M. Way to go Walmart, keep it up!

This woman deserves every dollar, I don't think these companies realize how serious criminal charges affect our everyday lives as normal law abiding citizens.

They made $314 million and only had to pay out $2.1 million, sounds like they have zero incentive to change.

That’s the best ad for walmart ever. “If you shop at walmart, you may win $2.1M”

I was accused of stealing a bottle of water once at a Macy's. I asked them to provide evidence which they said they had but could not produce so they dropped it and let me go. It still pisses me off almost 15 years later that I was accused of something I did not do. I'm glad this woman got justice.

I'm so glad she fought this. Walmart really needs to stop harassing innocent people. Quick story time for anyone who cares: once I was at walmart, It was pretty late, maybe around 8:30pm. I was there with my husband and we were shopping for back to school items. I had lots of pencils, paper, and backpacks and such. I also grabbed a few groceries and some dog food. Needless to say, my cart was full. I went to the registers and tried to find one that was open with a person at the register. But there wasn't anyone working registers. It was only self checkout options. My husband walked over to customer service and asked if anyone would be able to open the register to help us out because there wasn't enough room on the side of the self checkouts to place our items after scanning them. The manager yelled at him instantly! Like for no reason! He was very kind when asking, just curious if anyone could help us out. But she was so angry that he even asked. She said no, if you want to shop here you need to go through self checkout. Well my husband wasn't happy about that, but bit his tongue because we needed to get home. All of a sudden as we're scanning each and every individual item, we run out of room on the side of the register. So instead we started putting items into the top of the basket area. Well that was a red flag because then the worker kept telling us we were missing items. Needless to say it was a huge mess. I hated every bit of it. I wanted to put it back but my kids needed it very soon. I wanted to grab another basket, but they were out in the parking lot, and I wanted to use bags but they were out in the whole store. I just hated how I felt like i was working there and doing their jobs temporarily. Workers standing around everywhere! I hate walmart. 😒 anyways thanks for reading! Lol

To anyone reading this: Wal mart employees cannot physically detain you. If you are in the right, just keep walking. They legally have no right to touch you. They are not the police. If the police show up, obviously cooperate, but I've read too many comments on this video about Wal mart not allowing people to leave that haven't done anything wrong. You don't have to listen to them when they tell you to go into that theft room. They aren't your parents, the police, or anyone with any authority over you.

My sister was falsely accused of stealing from Target 🎯 and it has truly damaged her image and name in so many ways. I have watched you tell what happened to you at Walmart. You deserve what you got from them because they are quick to say someone is stealing from their company.

Glad she fought it and received a great reward for the harassment. A few years back, went to Walmart and bought groceries. Mind you, I checked out at the register, right by the door. As I was leaving, greeter asked for receipt. I was thinking really, you seen me at register and cashier rung me up. I had bought a hair clipper and supposibly wasn't on receipt. I told her it was and to check. Long story short, I made her take my bags to the register, take everything out and check it off one by one. She said " she didn't have to". I told her " you insinuating I took something, so YOU ARE going to check off everything ". She did and everything was on my receipt. Two can play their game.

Geez, they got a whole scam going on, don't they? They never thought she really stole anything. They just wanted to put her in a position to extort her. Disgusting. I'm glad she fought it and won.

I remember being accused of shoplifting when I was 19 years old in 2014. I was at the mall with my friends, I was looking around at things and wasn’t planning on buying anything because I was waiting on my friends to finish up. This employee was following me around and I saw she was just steering at me and just watching my every move. I continued to look around and see what they had. I told my friends that the employee is following me around for some reason and they said just ignore her because you are not doing anything wrong. After a while I finally went up to her and I asked her, is there a problem ma’am and her response was ya you are the problem and I said what did I do wrong, I am just walking around looking at your store that’s all. She said I know you stole and I said why would I ever steal. She just kept saying that I will call the police on you for stealing items here and I emptied out my purse and pockets. I said this is everything that is in my purse and pockets. Her response was ok you can go, I asked her don’t you owe me something and she said have a nice day. I told her that aren’t you going to apologize to me for accusing me of stealing and she said No goodbye. I had a crowd around me because I yelled out that the woman accused me of stealing and she won’t apologize to me for that. The manager came out and asked what’s the problem and I explained to him what happened and I demanded that the employee should be fired from her position because you don’t just accuse someone of shoplifting just of how they look. I never got an apology from the manager of the store and I never went back there again. There’s a lot of rude people out there that will accuse you of stealing and it’s just so frustrating and wrong.

That woman had such a peaceful demeanor

So she was arrested and had to go to court over a measly $40 worth of groceries and no one representing Walmart even showed up? 🤯 AND THEN they tried to get her to pay them $200 for them to basically stop harassing her with letters?! Damn…no wonder walmart attracts all the crazy people 😭 you are who you attract 🤡

Went thru the Walmart check out and the cashier kept insisting that I need to pay for a tommy Hilfiger coat (edit: no it wasn't expensive) my son wore inside the building and took off and was holding. Even after my son told her it was his coat she was still giving me a hard time until I explained to her (and showed her the tag and logo) that Walmart does not sell Tommy Hilfiger and that I bought this coat online. Ridiculous and embarrassing. I've never stolen anything in my life.

F WALMART. Their BS self checkout SUCKS.

Thank you for posting this story and a huge THANK YOU! to Mrs. Nurse for choosing to fight it and holding WalMart accountable for their actions. It's time that the $3.14Mil "stolen" by WalMart be returned to all of the individuals who also suffered such abusive tactics.

it’s the “when no one from Walmart showed up to court” for me

I was accused of stealing food when I worked at the target pizza hut. They said there was video of it. I asked to see the video and he changed the subject. I was blindsided by this so I forgot about pushing the issue. I had a coworker who was accused of giving too much change back to a customer, $100. She's been in retail for literally decades so she couldn't believe it. She asked to see the video of it and the manager refused. Why is that allowed? If we're being accused of something so bad that we're getting fired for it shouldn't we be allowed to see their proof?

Walmart has a lot of nerve to send these demand letters AFTER they caused the case to be dismissed by failing to appear in court.

For walmart that's not even a drop in the bucket. But for this lady this is life changing. Happy for her. Live well happy and safe

There’s just something so satisfying about seeing corporate giants be forced to give millions of their wages to hardworking middle class citizens. Glad justice was served.

When I was a kid, Walmart accused me of stealing a toy I brought with me from home. Cops were called immediately. My dad said, prove that this particular toy is sold in your store. The manager even tried to get the cops to arrest my dad for asking. The cop went off on the store manager and asked if they sold that particular toy, manager eventually said no. We never sued them, but after seeing this video I wish we did.

One time I was in Walmart and was basically forced to use self check out, though I had hundreds of dollars of groceries. My wife was home and I was with my one-year old. As I am ringing each individual item, my one-year old kept grabbing the bags and crying as I placed them back in the cart. I had to double check twice as I was so scared that I missed an item in confusion and distress. If I was able to go to an actual cashier, this transaction would’ve been so much easier.

Every time I go to Walmart, when I am at self check out, the employees always swarm to where I’m checking out and they always watch me like a dang hawk 😡 I’ve spent thousands and thousands of dollars in that place and I have NEVER stolen one thing from them!!! They need to get their cashiers back in there and do the checking out process if they are going to accuse and insinuate!!! I despise Walmart, I really do!!!

It's one of the worse feelings when you are accused of stealing and you know you are not a thief. To deliberately accuse honest people of stealing so they can profit is down right evil! The same thing goes for people who spread lies that you are a thief simply because they don't like you. Evil!

I got falsely accused of stealing a chair from Walmart. I had the receipt. Even though I showed it to the guy at the door they thought I walked out with it got my license plate and all of a sudden I get this letter in the mail to appear in court. I had to miss work went in and showed the judge my receipt. The judge shook his head and apologized to me and that Walmart waisted everybody’s time. I hate Walmart

Wal-mart is just terribly ran. I used self check out and had tons of problems but thought I paid. When I got home I noticed on my bank account I didn't. So I called a help number on their website so I could pay. The guy had no idea how to proceed. Told me to call the store. I called the store. No one knew what to do. Got transferred and put on hold and eventually disconnected. Called back 3 times on different days before I just gave up on trying to force them to take my money. Wal-mart has no right to sue people for stealing when their systems are garbage. We aren't your employee.

Things are so desperate for supermarkets they now have to falsely accuse customers of stealing and then blackmail them by demanding money to go away. In many civilised countries this is called extortion and its a statutory offence. Im glad you sued and I hope anyone who's also had a similar experience sues these frauds out of existence

I was falsely accused once and it was beyond humiliating. I was a teenager and went to walk into a dressing room at a clothing store. The employee saw an empty hanger on the floor and accused me of somehow magically throwing the hanger in there and stealing clothing. I had no purse. Only shorts and a tank top, wallet in my pocket. I had to spin around and show them I didn’t have anything then they demanded I paid. I didn’t and walked out humiliated. I WISH I would have sued them. I was a teen and had no clue I could. But good on this lady.

Walmart falsely accused me of stealing also when I was 18 years old.. they took me into a back room and interrogated me.. told me they had me on video stealing and that I was going to jail.. Wouldn’t let me call anyone.. I kept asking to see the video and they refused to show it to me.. I was absolutely traumatized

We'll crap, i don't want to shop at Walmart anymore after hearing about this. That was just terrible!

I used to get stopped a lot at walmart when I rode my motorcycle. I used a backpack and would load everything after I had receipt in hand, but it didn't matter. I got stopped every single time, so I just stopped going.

You go lady....my own experience at a Walmart some years ago has me on your side. I bought 2 items. One was a Dremel tool. I paid in the check out line but the clerk failed to nullify the theft protection device on the package. When I left the store alarms sounded and "theft protection" woman accosted me near my car. I never realized the alarms were meant for me. I was escorted back into the store where the woman dumped my stuff on the floor right in front of a crowded Friday night checkout crowd. Of course I had the receipt and it showed every item in my bag (2) were paid for. Even then the woman was holding me up from leaving. I finally picked my stuff up and put it back in the bag and demanded to see a store manager, who was even more abusive. I really don't like Walmart and don't understand how they got so big.

I've worked as an Asset Protection Associate for Wal-Mart before. And let me tell you that the training for that job is very lacking and communication is terrible. I was AP for about 4 months and I stepped down. You wouldn't believe how much of Wal-Mart's AP Associates love causing trouble and ruining people's lives for a simple mistake. I'm glad this lady fought back and won.

You are my Hero lBlessing for you and your family

There should be a class action lawsuit where everyone gets paid that went through the same crap !

So happy for her-she took the hard road and fought back-she deserves the money! Never heard of anything that crazy.

How about that terrible company hires enough employees to work all of the registers. They can definitely afford it but they are to greedy. Best way to fight back is shopping anywhere else

Oh man that is heartbreaking 😢

2.1 million is a joke. Let's be real. People who get paralysed in vehicle accidents get less money or injured at work. God the legal system is a joke.

Happend to me in Walmart, I was stopped at the door and was accused of stealing, made me take everything out I showed them my receipt and they said it was a 99 cents ítem. Double checked and there it was .99c PAID, all this in front of people and while my kids were criying thinking their parents were thiefs. The whole thing felt like an eternity to me. And at the end the lady didn't even apologized. Very humiliating for my husband and I, and traumatic for my kids.

Dang. 2.1 million dollars goes a heckuva lot further than 2.1 dollars. I'm glad she got the bigger award.

Why anyone would waste their hard earned money to shop at this disgraceful store is beyond me.

God bless you lady happy for you

I was awarded $127k in a private settlement from Sears many years ago for something similar- a Sears employee actually tackled me! Im happy to see she's been properly awarded bc you DEFINITELY get PTSD when you're arrested falsely. Happy for this family!!!

Honestly good for her. No one deserves to be harassed!! Harassment is exhausting mentally and physically!

niceeeee Good for you👍💪 I'm sorry you had to go through this but justice has been served❤

what a beautiful lady. Glad she was able to fight the system and make an impact.

Good for her!!! I'm an ex Walmart employee fired for "shoplifting. " I worked in Produce and we threw so much product in the garbage that didn't need to be disposed of. I made the mistake of eating some of the fruit that was meant to go to trash. They not only fired me, but sent me that letter to try and get me to pay them $100 to settle the case. I disputed, ironically due to no job, and they dropped it. Very humiliating. I'm proud of this lady and hope she gets her settlement.

This is so crazy! I’m glad she fought it.

Good for her!!!! I was at Walmart once, and used Walmart Pay on my iPhone, and some employee ran over like I stole something. Good for this woman! Her verdict is healing for me!!!!!

I get crippled from a car wreck that I was not even driving in and only get $42,000. This system is ridiculous.

I used to work for Walmart and every week they accused cashiers of stealing every freaking week we’d be called in to get interviewed by the Loss Prevention people.. I remember when my cash drawer was short but I wasn’t the only one on the register, it was during the busy season.. and because their cameras didn’t work.. I was questioned for my whole shift.. I stuck to my truth and they tried to tell me “it’s ok, we know it’s hard times.. you can tell us”… they kept doing that and saying well I have a customer who said this or another employee who saw this.. I was so irritated by their accusations.. after that day… I put in my request to move to over night stocking.. I couldn’t believe the lengths they went to.. it just felt wrong and I couldn’t handle another interrogation.. I would’ve probably beat up the lady in charge..

They accuse wrong people but when its these actual thieves caught on the act/ camera they wont even let their employees go after them. 🤯

“I don’t want anyone else to have to go through this” Girl, for $2M dollars, I’d go through that! 😂

I'm glad that she's courageous and tenacious enough to pursue the case against Walmart, and winning it. It's not easy going up against an entity especially something as big as Walmart.

Dang, I’m happy for her that she won. That’s terrible this happened to her. Ironically, I’ve had the complete opposite experience. I did grocery pick up one time and ended up with 8 (yes 8) bags of about 3lb candy bags and was only charged for 1. I was super confused because I didn’t order that much. I called them and they said, “oops, enjoy the candy.” I just wish people were always nice.

Wow…. That is crazy…. People need to act and fight back….. CEO makes so much money while stealing peoples money like this? Wow

I’m happy for that lady. Right on!

I stopped going there many years ago, including other companies. Mostly buy online and not from walmart. Last time i went to a walmart there was an employee requesting to see the receipt by the exit door. And that was like 10 years ago.

This happened to me as well I went to leave and "Loss Prevention" came up to me as I was leaving asking me "where's the shirts you didn't pay for!" They dumped all my bags out and made a mess of all the items I purchased.The had even called the cops ,but they felt stupid because everything was on my receipt! I hadn't taken a thing. They didn't apologize and they didn't attempt to re bag my items. I turned around got a refund and left. They do this kind of stuff ALL the time.

I would have been so embarrassed if this happened to me, I probably wouldn’t leave my house for weeks. So glad she won but too bad she had to go through all that humiliation.

I’m SO glad she persevered & got awarded that money. What happened to her was flat out wrong. The sad aftermath is, the entire ordeal will remain with her forever.

Here to add to the Walmart frustration! After working 2nd shift at my old factory job one night, I went to Walmart to get Gatorade and stuff for lunch break. I checked out at the cash register really close to the exit and it was not busy at all at 11pm. The security at the door could see everything I did but that didn't stop an employee from grabbing my cart, preventing me from leaving, and demanding to see my receipt. Initially I said "you saw me pay for this literally right there" but she wouldn't let go of the cart. I was so freaking tired and hot from work that night that I didn't really argue and had to dig around my pockets and wallet to find the stupid receipt. I sent in a formal complaint on my next day off and the response I got from the manager was "yeah your cart should not have been grabbed like that, but you need to understand that to keep our prices low, precautions need to be taken." Nothing better than precautions that treat customers like criminals!

I worked at Walmart for two years and I was accused of helping a lady steal alcohol at a register I was helping her with because I was “too friendly” according to the asset protection manager. When I asked to see proof, the manager said no and he said he “saw what he saw” and threatened me that if he was my boss I’d be fired and immediately would’ve gone to jail. I quit right on the spot after that as I was fed up with all the micro manage bs I was getting called into the office for. I told that manager if he wanted to threaten me, he needed proof otherwise he was getting reported and one of my co workers ended up reporting him for the same thing and he was fired! Since then, Walmart has been sued 5 times as I am writing this. I’ve also been getting small settlement checks in the Mail over the course after I quit. Never work for this company it’ll save you a lot of stress. My heart goes out to this lady and I’m very glad she won her lawsuit!

The Walmart here now forces everyone to self check out. They “remodeled the floors” by tearing the top off - looks disgusting and feel like I need to shower just by being in the store. We used to go about once a month there and now avoid unless we absolutely have to. This story further convinces me to avoid. Good for her!

Hey Walmart, I'll happily go through this for 2.1 million. Feel free to falsely accuse me anytime!

How can people keep buying from that store when there are many others both online or physical?

So this is a Walmart practice? Set up random people for scam charges to make more money? Never upon ever am I setting foot inside a Walmart again.

This happened to my dad. He had to get one item from Walmart. The lines were so long he went to the cashier at the garden section. That's when I noticed a lady following us. I told dad and he said he hadn't done anything wrong so we were fine. He went and paid for the item and right before exiting the lady came up and accused him of theft. He produced the one item and recite clearly showing purchase. She refused to listen and forced us to speak with her manager. The manager said she was calling the police so I told them I was gonna call my friend whose mother was a lawyer if they didn't provide actual proof of theft. That stopped them real quick.

Typical Walmart. One associate admitted that they accuse all people who shop their stores of shoplifting. That's why they bully you to produce a receipt. That's why I would encourage everyone to avoid shopping at Walmart.

My dad was arrested at Walmart for stealing a can of shoe polish when he walked past the Point of purchase to make a phone call.

“I don’t want anyone else to go through that again.” Unless they could be awarded $2.1M. Just sayin’. Congratulations 🎉🎈🎊🍾 I’m happy for her.

Moral of the story is to never step foot in a Walmart again. Their entire business model stinks Take your money elsewhere.

Another reason why I never step foot in that place.

Am I crazy for low-key hoping Walmart falsely accuses me of shoplifting? XD

This EXACT same thing happened to me at Target. They accused me of stealing some granola bars and pasta sauce at the self -pay isle. I was completely innocent and immediately hired as attorney after being arrested. The police threatening me by telling me they had hours of video of me “acting suspicious”. We finally went to court and after paying thousands of dollars to my attorney to defend me the best he could do was get me 250 hours of community service. They never produced any evidence or video, but the police and prosecutor still wouldn’t budge. I completed my community service and received a letter from the court after fighting to have the arrest removed from my record that there was never any evidence of me shoplifting. I was stunned that this could happen. I live in an affluent area and have heard some of the police and stores “profile” “wealthy soccer moms”. I’m not a “soccer mom” and have my own business that has been deeply impacted by this situation. I’ve lost multiple contracts and am still working on dealing with how this has affected my reputation. It sickens me this goes on.

Good for her winning that settlement

ABSOLUTELY HORRIBLE! I am glad she sued!

Who is your attorney? This exact thing happened to my brother yesterday.

I had this happen to me at Macy’s. They stopped me at the door and asked to look in my bags. I said, “after you call the police.” They then said, “have a nice day.”

Always get your receipt! I have seen this happen to many because those watching the self checkout are not paying attention or goofing off. Always check your bags and hold on to the receipt.

They stopped her for $40 worth of junk but can't do anything about the thugs walking right out the door with a full cart of tvs?????

“Hey we need you to come back in this little room with us” No.

One time when I was about 18 years old I went through a Wendy’s drive thru and when I pulled up to the window the girl stuck her head out and said “the manager here told me to tell you he knows that was you that came trough and took off without paying earlier, if you come back again he will get the police involved” I was in such shock I told her it wasn’t me but of course no one believed a 18 year old kid. 15years later I still regret not parking my car and going inside that place and making that manager show me the video and apologize after I proved it wasn’t me.

I kind of hope this happens to me. I like to get a lawsuit settlement out of this.

They falsely accused me yesterday!!!tf!

I used to fear that this would happen to me. I noticed that employees at the "You check" are working overtime ignoring people to prevent from helping People who requested help. Now, I don't shop at stores without cashiers.

Well as long as Walmart is around, they will continue to do this to people They did this to my daughter over a $2 missed item We kept getting the demand letters First it was $200, and each time it went up We just ignored them because I did my research This should be criminal because they can literally accuse anyone of shoplifting and in most cases they don’t have the police involved and they don’t have the person arrested but they do tell them they are going to get a civil demand letter and that’s where it gets dicey because the courts are not involved so they can just request the money and they hope that people will pay it. It needs to stop because as long as they can have that happen and get that money they will continue to falsely accuse people of shoplifting

Walmart goes after the wrong people while the real shoplifters are cleaning them out. They're guards need better training.

Wow . Just wow

As a LEO I commend you for sharing your story, and this doesn't mean that Walmart has won. I'd prosecute the one that actually filed the claim for Walmart.

For 2 million $ they can falsely accuse me all day long . I’m glad she was awarded for what they put her through tho .

When shopping at Walmart using self-checkout a worker came up and fussed at me over a "small item" she went through my bag and checked everything. The small item was dental floss and was there on the receipt. There was no apology. I think everyone should stop using self-checkout at Walmart. Good for this customer.

That is sad that's one of the reasons I don't use them ever when I go end any store because of that problem.

For 2.1 million I'd go through it twice lol

I’m at Walmart with my 3 kids. It was cold out so when we got in the store we all put our bubble coats in the shopping cart. I proceeded to shop placing everything on top of the coats. I check out at self checkout and when I am finished and have paid before loading all the bagged groceries back into the cart, the cashier walks over and without warning and without asking proceeds to reach into my cart to sift through our coats thinking I was hiding items within them. She felt pretty dumb when there was nothing under them but I felt soooo violated. It wasn’t so much her suspecting that there might be something under the coats, it was the fact that she touched my personal property without asking with absolutely no justification. At the very minimum she could have said “ma’am, do you mind lifting up your coats?” But for her to put her hands on my belongings infuriated me. Walmart sucks!

All the people they’ve collected the $200 from who were innocent should be awarded the same amount of money. It’s not about the money, it’s about the principal. You have to show Walmart that they can’t do this to people or they will pay the consequences. 👏👏👏kudos to that nurse for filing a lawsuit and bringing it to the media👏👏💪

I'm a white, senior citizen in a nice area of Florida. I rarely shop at Walmart. I *ALWAYS* have my merchandise scanned by a cashier. Last year, as I was walking out, a middle-aged female employee asked me for my receipt. I asked her why she didn't ask the two (30ish minority) men who exited just in front of me for their receipt. She said because she "picked me". Quite the argument ensued, then said she couldn't make me show her my receipt. I certainly was willing to have the police called at this point. I just walked out, like the two men in front of me, who she obviously was afraid to confront. I've had that happen a few times since then at my infrequent Walmart shopped trips. When they ask for my receipt, I say "no", as I keep on pushing my cart through the door. I'm going to bookmark this video for future reference in case I ever get harassed like this poor, innocent woman. I certainly could use the court's monetary judgment. 😂

One of the few reasons I hate shopping at Walmart, almost every employee looks down at you from the moment you walk in assuming & thinking the your a potential shoplifter making it uncomfortable to even shop there.