Pennington County, MN (trfnews.i234.me)—Rayne Austin Villa, a 24-year-old resident of Merrifield, has been charged with felony theft in Pennington County District Court. A warrant has been issued for his arrest. The charge follows a report from a Walmart employee on January 3, who had been investigating multiple thefts by the same individual. Surveillance images identified the suspect as Villa. In one incident, he was accompanied by a woman, who was later identified by both the Walmart employee and a Thief River Falls police investigator.
The investigator interviewed the woman, who stated that Villa had requested a ride to Walmart the previous day. She mentioned that Villa scanned all their items at the self-checkout and claimed to have money to pay for them. The investigator obtained documentation from the Walmart employee detailing nine incidents between November 10 and January 2, during which Villa allegedly failed to pay for merchandise totaling $3,774.38. The individual losses ranged from $231.44 to $810.05. Villa reportedly scanned items at the self-checkout and then pressed a language button to avoid detection by staff.
I’m Chris Harper reporting for trfnews.i234.me