MESQUITE, Nev. – Proactive police work by a Mesquite, Nevada, officer resulted in a felony arrest and the recovery of $800 in merchandise allegedly stolen from the Mesquite Wal-Mart Supercenter.
While on routine patrol Monday, a Mesquite Police Department officer noticed a man pushing a Wal-Mart shopping cart filled with brand-new items along Pioneer Boulevard, according to a statement from the Mesquite Police Department. The officer stopped, walked up to the man and began a conversation.
While talking to the man, the officer noticed several expensive items in the cart, including two televisions, the statement said.
The televisions were in boxes with the store security devices still attached, Mesquite Police Lt. MaQuade Chesley said.
“They remove those at the cash register, so that’s probable cause to detain him,” Chesley said.
The suspect was identified as Levi Billsie, 23, from Las Vegas. Billsie told officers he had just moved to Mesquite and was still trying to find a place to live, Mesquite Police Officer Quinn Averett said.
Billsie was found just over half a mile east of Wal-Mart, Averett said. Billsie was pushing the cart, which contained several items of men’s clothing, an action figure and the two televisions – merchandise totaling about $800.
“He just walked right out the door with them,” Averett said. “It’s unknown whether the alarms went off or not, but it didn’t alert any of the (Wal-Mart) employees.”
The officer returned to Wal-Mart and was able to view video surveillance showing that all the items inside the shopping cart had just been stolen.
Billsie was arrested and charged with two felony counts of burglary and one felony count of grand larceny. He was transported and booked into the Clark County Detention Center, the release said.
“Proactive police work is what let us stop this guy from committing this crime and any others he would have while he was in town,” Averett said.
Chesley said in a press statement:
Thanks to the officer’s actions and proactive police work, a crime in progress was stopped and a criminal who had just moved to the Mesquite area from Las Vegas was identified before he could successfully commit this crime and possibly stop him from committing others.
Billsie additionally has a history of criminal activity in the St. George area for which he has been convicted, including a graffiti spree in December 2014 and retail theft in October 2014.
Persons arrested or charged are presumed innocent until found guilty in a court of law or as otherwise decided by a trier-of-fact.
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I have a feeling a Walmart door greeter position is about to open up in Mesquite if anyone is interested.
Yep them anti theft devices really do a good job don’t they.?
Thieves deserve to go to jail!!!! Walmart is thieves paradise
A guy pushing a shopping cart with 2 TV’s (still in the boxes) and men’s clothing over a half-mile from the store gets stopped by a suspicious police officer. That certainly is some first-rate police work.
This guy is a thieving scum bag. I feel bad for Nevada that they have to deal with him now but at least St. George doesn’t.
Walmart is the biggest thief of all. thieves stealing from the thief…who cares..
I don’t understand how Wal-Mart is a thief in this case?
they should just build a trailer park inside the walmart
Well, at least he has a place to live now.
I heard he stole a bag of Cheetos and that’s what he got arrested for
#fundraiser
From Las Vegas? Are you kidding, he’s been in and out of jail here for the last few years. In fact, I saw him carrying a Book of Mormon at the biolife trying to get money. They made him leave the biolife so that has to say something because they will pretty much take anyone.
Oh, book of Mormon….that explains alot