Well, here's the deal. You did a crime today. >> I know it doesn't >> Well, and so Miles said he swore he had seen her before. >> So, why were the items inside of the tote? >> Like I said, I have two separate totes. I was going to do one for the candy and then one for my personal stuff. I was on my way to the >> All right, listen to your captain. So, they have her on video and it looks pretty clear that she was selling items into a tote. >> to be honest with you. You look like a shoplifter on the video. >> I was like, "What's the problem?" is that she's giving us seven different stories about what she was doing and how she was trying to get that accomplished. >> Yeah. On October 6th, 2025, officers responded to a Walmart in Show Low, Arizona after loss prevention stopped a woman leaving the store with merchandise inside a tote. The situation became more unusual when officers recognized her as Sergeant Melissa Ward of the White Mountain Apache Police Department. Ward maintained that what happened was unintentional, leaving officers to determine whether her explanation matched what had actually happened inside the store. >> the tote and then went through grocery. So, that's kind of where we're at right now. >> I'm going to ask you to chat with me and stuff. Were you just Were you just getting off work and stuff? Okay. Okay. Oh. Okay. Okay. Yeah, and he'll he'll chat with you about it and we'll try to figure it out. Do you have your weapon on you? >> No, I took it off. >> Professional courtesy, I'm not putting you in handcuffs, but we're going to take you to your car, put you in back. I'm going to take your bag and stuff to make sure you have nothing on you, okay? Fair enough? And then we'll we'll chat down at the PD and stuff, okay? We're going to walk around here real quick. She's still She's got her patrol car here. Oh, okay. I'm going to have you sit back here and then I'm read your rights and everything, okay? >> I heard her tell you that. >> Yeah, she was That's why I was like, "Let's double-check with Miles." cuz she was trying to claim that she was going to go in her stuff. >> Ward explained that she had lost her keys, received a difficult phone call, and became flustered while shopping. She also said the items inside the tote were separated between personal purchases and supplies she planned to buy for her department. Instead of relying on that explanation alone, officers went back to the store footage to reconstruct her movements. >> Get somebody at the front to watch her car so she can go back out to her car cuz she can't find her keys. >> Well, why was she stuffing it in the back? >> Exactly. So >> Did we find the keys? >> That's That's another thing too. We'll search her bag and see if she has her keys or not. But as we pulled in, we see her phone call change right here. >> So she came here just got off work came here. >> Ma'am, I'm reading you your Miranda rights. You have the right to have one appointed to you prior to questioning. Do you understand these rights? Okay, so what happened here? And be And just be straight with me. I mean, we all make mistakes. >> I'm looking for my keys. So what ended up happening was I went over. I'm supposed to get two totes. So ended up grabbing one tote and I put some stuff in there and then I got a phone call. Somebody was letting me know we had a family member pass away this morning. So I was just getting ready to leave, but I thought I could go to the front and ask for my keys. There's a lady that's usually right here. She's pretty good about letting you know somebody like park your cart and then go. I went in and I got one of the totes cuz I need to get candy for the department and then I was going to put the other stuff in that tote for my It's my personal stuff that I'm going to buy for for today. So I couldn't fit the other tote in there cuz there's two lids. There's only one tote. I I paid for the tote. >> I'm going to go Did you Did you see the video at all yet? >> No. Do you want to just come to the office? >> Yeah, I'm going to go watch. So the >> By this point, officers had heard Ward's explanation and reviewed the checkout sequence for themselves. Their questions were now focused on whether her actions in the store lined up with the account she had given them. Based on everything you've seen so far, does her explanation make sense to you? Before officers made a final decision, loss prevention took another look through the store's records. >> The tote you have, how come you were putting this item and putting a lid on it? >> Cuz I'm going to fit another tote in there with candy, if that makes any sense. It just fits side by side. >> I just want to see the video cuz she's selling us something and I want to make sure that what she's trying to tell us doesn't match up. >> her on the video. >> Yeah. >> She was when she was in the front end. Yeah. The the self-checkout self-check that are closed, she went through there, she had her phone out. >> Okay. >> Then she cuts around the corner, goes over to Clinton, door two. Clinton talks to her, she turns around, she goes to customer service. She waits in line in customer service for a minute or two. She rolls up, says a couple words to generally the team lead, comes out, heads back to door two, talks to Clinton again, circles back around, and then she cuts through up through the self-check, turns around, gets in line at self-check five. >> Okay. >> She's at self-check five, she buys she scans the tote, just the tote. Gets her receipt, heads out, goes right past to to door host on one, heads as she's past everything, she's past the scanner. >> Yeah, yeah. >> And that's when we stopped her. >> Okay. >> Hey, what are you doing? >> So cuz she's she's claiming that she was trying to find someone to watch her car cuz she didn't know where but that doesn't explain why she would then try to push out the merchandise. So you said you came here and you're buying it for the department? >> Yes. >> What were you buying for the department? >> Candy. >> For what? >> Uh it's the trunk or treats. >> Your department pay for that? >> Yes, they gave me $500. >> You lost your keys, got flustered, and it was on on it unintentional, it was a mistake, nothing was intentional. >> a detective. >> Okay. >> Okay. And so that's your bag, your personal bag? >> Yes. >> So you do you have any problem if I look there, make sure there's no keys or nothing in there? >> Yes, that's fine. >> Okay. And you have no keys on you? And so that way I'm going to sort it out cuz I obviously if it's truly a mistake, last thing I want you to do is an our car. Okay, so let me just give me a minute, let me try to figure this out and that's why I wanted respect you and put you here so you're not in front of everybody out there. >> No, I'm feeling already embarrassed. It's not >> Okay. Okay, just hang tight for me, okay? >> Thank you. >> What began as a review of that day's incident was now expanding. Loss prevention believed they had located additional visits involving similar behavior, including one where merchandise appeared to be concealed inside another tote. Officers now had to determine whether they were dealing with a single disputed checkout or part of a larger pattern. >> Did she say any reason why she was like stuffing it at all? >> Like she told me cuz she had two totes. >> And so with the two totes at the bottom of the cart, so that's why she was putting in there and in there cuz otherwise she wouldn't have enough room. Cuz it's like how do you make sense of that? >> Okay. >> But but she ended up purchasing one tote though? Is that what they said? >> But then they Okay. >> First of all, the video So we can put a If we want, we can put a bag in here and we can go take a look at that video just to make sure I I agree with you. Just to make sure. >> Hey, real quick question. I was talking to the officer and when you went through there, you did pay for one of the totes. How come you only paid for one and not the stuff in there? >> Well, cuz I was I was like I said, I got a phone call. I was I was flustered. >> So you got phone You got phone call when you're checking out or when? >> No. I got it on my way out. >> So after you checked out? >> Yes. >> So but yeah, so >> no no. No, let me let me rephrase that. I got a phone call a little bit earlier than that. On my way to the other side. I forgot that there was other items in there and like I said, like in my mind thinking, "Okay, I got to go look for my keys to get out of here." >> Okay. Okay, hang tight. We're just going to check the video, okay? >> Yeah, we just want to make sure that we can clearly refute what she's trying to tell us. >> Oh, yeah. She's She has to fight this cuz she's She wants to keep her certification. >> So right. So under our criteria, this is um >> She's already staged the tote. >> Yeah, so the tote tote's full of of all the stuff you used already. >> Okay. Okay, grabs the receipt. Why is she grabbing a bag? >> This is confusing to me. She grabs a bag and sticks it in there and then she never does anything with it. >> My man, is she planning to like go try to do returns on the merchandise with the bag? Like what is the plan here? Something weird's going on. Okay. All right. She's full of it. >> Yeah, we're thinking so. >> So she She picks out a bunch of stuff. She keeps putting one item in the tote, closes the lid. >> She went to a door host, went to customer service. At no point did she leave the cart or attempt to leave the the She has the tote staged in the cart. She goes up to the self-checkout scanner. >> So >> Takes the receipt, grabs an empty Walmart bag, and then proceeds to ride past everything to come out the doors. That's when they stopped her. >> The tote was like this? Was there any candy items? >> Nope. >> That don't make sense cuz then she said she came to buy candy for the PD? >> She's just trying to play on her emotions with the chocolate treat. >> She's She's lying. One tote, two lids, and then the empty bag. I'm thinking she grabbed the bag to try to probably stage it as legitimate if she got stopped. It would be like, "Yes." >> Everything here seems obviously dishonest with Walmart, but everything I've seen she was super nervous. I recognize her and I swear I've seen her on camera at the >> Yeah, let us know too if you do see anything else. Would you like her trespass on top of this too? >> It's her first one too, so >> My thought would be go back to re-interview her. Just straight up lay it out and say, "Listen, the difference between you getting booked into jail today and getting cited for shoplifting is you telling the truth." Because I think if she still wants to continue to lie about it, we also charge her false reporting, dude. Like, because if you >> What's the reason? Why lie this way? >> My issue is her doing this makes all of us look bad, so it's kind of BS. >> I think if she's willing to tell the truth, we consider that option. But I think if she wants to try to dig in her heels and stick with her original story, then dude, no. We're not playing that. >> Call her supervisor, call her supervisor. You need to pick up her car at Walmart. >> Yeah, I'm game for that. >> That's my feeling. >> I think it's a good strategy. I really do. Let's do it. >> This was a personal bag, right? >> Yeah, it's all her personal, yeah. What do you mean? >> I have an IR scanner. >> What's an IR scanner? >> I don't know. Let me look it >> It looked pretty high tech there. >> It's a camera detector. It's like for detecting surveillance cameras. >> Oh. What is that thing? >> Detecting surveillance cameras. Yeah, or bugs, like RF frequency stuff. Is that the That's the bag that she took? I bet I bet you. >> I couldn't hear her super good, but she said she claimed Oh, she got locked up. >> Oh, nice, dude. >> She probably been doing this a while. >> Yeah. Well, and so Myron said he swore he has seen her before. >> So that'd to be interesting if he goes back and finds anything else. >> Dude, you know he will. >> Yeah. >> Kept Kept on stealing stuff. >> Oh, nice. Okay, real quick, I'm going to tell you after going in there, went to the video and saw the video on that. And I just seen where, you know, each time going through there concealing items. And then you Why did you grab an extra Walmart bag when you checked out? >> I did I? >> Yeah. >> I didn't realize that. >> Well, even in your bag you got a bunch of empty Walmart bags. >> are for poop for my Belgian Malinois. >> So, you keep them when you buy but you don't recall grabbing one today? >> I don't. >> Okay. Well, and then initially you told me you came here because of trick-or-treat that city gave you. But none of the stuff you had with you were nothing with candy or nothing like that. >> Well, yeah. So, I was going to do my stuff and then come through and get the candy stuff cuz it's it's really heavy to carry in a tote. >> It just doesn't look good the whole thing but I just ask you to be honest cuz here's the situation here. Video's here. The other officers reviewed it and said that's why I'm asking you to be honest. You were both officers, so >> No, that was not my intention. >> So, you never had intention. You're saying it's fully accidental. >> Yes. >> All right. Handcuff me. Do you mind if I talk to her? >> Jump in. Yeah, she's already been Mirandized. >> So, here's the situation. Obviously, you know why we're over here. >> Yes, I do. >> Yep. So, why were the items inside of the tote? >> Like I said, I have two separate totes. I was going to do one for the candy and then one for my personal stuff. I was on my way home. >> Mhm. >> That we told her our professional courtesy. She's not even a suspect. We don't do that to no one else. >> And when were you going to get the candy then? >> Um I was going to get them probably at the same time. I was going around to make Candy usually melts. I didn't want to put it in my car right away. >> I believe that you're looking for your keys. But here's the deal, you did a crime today. >> I know it doesn't look good. >> Mhm. No, it's illegal. It's not that it doesn't look good. It's it's shoplifting. That's >> That was not my intention. >> I'm not asking you what your intention was, okay? >> I know. I got to >> I'm not saying when you got here you planned to steal stuff. >> No. >> I'm not saying that. >> What's Blossom's number so I can call him and get him Mirandized? What's the number? >> How? >> You're a certified peace officer, correct? >> Yes. >> If I lost my keys, what are the keys for? >> My car, my unit. >> Yeah. so if I lost my keys for my unit, I would leave my merchandise and go find it because it's kind of important, especially since you have weapons in there, correct? >> Yes. >> So why go through self-checkout, purchase the tote, and then try to leave the store? Hey, how's it going? We're chatting with her if you just give us a couple minutes. Um, actually, can we talk over here real quick? You're her captain, right? >> Yeah, that's her captain. So, we have her on video and it looks pretty clear that she was uh concealing items into a tote. >> They've been They've been watching you. I watched the surveillance video. You look like a thief. I'm going to be honest with you, you look like a shoplifter on the video. I've watched a lot of shoplifters on video. You look like a shoplifter. >> Okay, that's not good then. >> It's not. I mean, we deal in probable cause, right? What's probable? Let me ask you, you have this car right now. Take your profession out of it. I'm not asking you that. I'm asking you what's probable. >> I guess what it looks like. >> What does it look like? >> It looks like shoplifting. >> It does. >> What a day. >> All right, sit tight. >> Yo, this is uh this is her captain. >> Oh, hello. >> So, she's saying she did She didn't need to buy a tote. >> Cool. Well, she also shoplifted. >> Yeah, that's what I told you. >> So, the problem is that she's giving us seven different stories about what she was doing and how she was trying to get that accomplished. And asset protection watched her load a tote with personal items, one item at a time, close the lid every time. She had ample opportunities to stop and leave her cart with someone. She decided instead to purchase only the tote that was full of the items and then attempt to leave the store without stopping to talk to anybody >> Yeah. >> before she was confronted by asset protection. >> Does she have her uni key? >> No, she's saying she still doesn't know where that is. But, we also haven't dug through her pockets or anything like that. But, I mean, she did shoplift them. So, that's where we're at today. >> Okay. >> Is that the very least she's getting charged for shoplifting. >> Okay. >> So, I was just talking to the supervisor and make sure it's okay. He says okay if you want to see the video. So, that way you understand what we're dealing with. >> Yeah. >> Hey, can you can you show us that video again real quick? >> Yeah, um so, I I'm pretty sure I found her doing it. I think I found her doing it, yeah. >> Excellent. >> He found her doing it another time. >> though. There's another one I this one's going to take a lot longer. >> So you found another one, too? >> Yeah, so I found another one. This one's the the most concerning cuz I got to make sure that she didn't pay for any of this stuff. I don't want to say anything out of turn, but >> Sure, yeah, yeah, no. >> She has a tote with a bunch of stuff around it. One of my associates actually does her job for once and takes the tote the top of the tote off. >> Holy cow. >> Yeah, there's LEGO sets on LEGO sets on LEGO sets. And that's all inside of it. I want to make sure that I that she didn't at any point pay for this already. But that's pretty suspicious in our line of work. >> Give me the dates. Um, today's the what? The 6th? >> is the 6th the 30th. >> 9:30. >> And then the big one was going to be 8:27. >> 8:27. >> If that is what we see. >> And she looks like she >> Yeah, so she puts it back on without No, she had a backpack, but at the same maybe it's a backpack she carries always, but >> Maybe that's like her purse or something. >> Yeah, but this one is the 30th. She She has like her hair tied. She has her looks like work boots on. >> yeah, work boots on there. So on the 9:30 in uniform and today uniform and her patrol vehicle is out there now with you right now. >> Okay. >> So after loss prevention has saw you this little time, he found two other days where you're shop filling it with the toys, filling another one with candy. So if it if it's truly those three, then they want us to book you in for a felony for the value in that cuz the one with all the toys that you didn't pay for or the other time when you came in. So they have three videos they're pulling right now and it's showing the 10. That's why I asked you to be honest just give me a I'll give you opportunity. So we're human. We make mistakes. And did you do it or not? I mean That's why I said it doesn't look good and especially you being officer if you're lying to me. But straight, I made a mistake, I did this. Tell me. That's all I'm asking you. So is that a something you commonly do and just >> wasn't I wasn't trying to take anything today. >> Today? >> No. >> But you have in the past? >> Yes. >> Okay, that's it. I just want to ask you to be honest with me cuz that's the worst thing is when I to those videos and then you tell me today, you know what I mean? So in the past you did but today was truly an accident. Okay. Fair enough. I appreciate that, okay? And that's why I'm trying to work with you. That's why I just don't want to handcuff you. I'm not doing that. I would expect you to do the same to me if you were dealing with me, okay? So you think that that's why I'm going to keep you posted as we go. >> I said I told you in the beginning I'd be straight with you. I said I'll figure out cuz when I went in there they showed me two other videos and I said show me the third one. We're booking you for a felony. She's like today was not intentional. I said so are you telling me you've never stolen here? She's like I have stolen here. >> But not today. >> But >> And then we'll give Miles some time to give us the evidence but she >> He told me within a He told me I said I gave my number. He I said so you'll have an answer within an hour. He said within an hour. >> And just uh tell you >> She asked what was going on after you were here. >> And I said after reviewing the video I realized you lied to me. I said have you stolen here? She's like yeah, I have stolen here. But today wasn't intentional. So we're going to discuss it with our boss, go back to see if we're going to do the long form. >> nice to do a long form so she can come in tomorrow based on leave or something pending investigation. >> We'll let you know here in about 20 minutes. >> All right, thank you, ma'am. Why would you put your career on the line for something foolish like this? You know what I mean? It's not It's not worth it. Even if you say today wasn't intentional, they've already got three other videos. Why would you do I just don't understand. >> The investigation continued after that night. Loss prevention reviewed Ward's previous visits while detectives examined transactions connected to items she said were being purchased for work. Investigators ultimately linked her to multiple alleged incidents totaling roughly $1,200 in thefts and fraudulent refunds. Ward was cited and released that night and trespassed from Walmart. She was later indicted on multiple felony counts involving shoplifting and fraudulent schemes and pleaded not guilty. Her employment status with the department was not publicly updated in the information provided and the case carried potential consequences for her law enforcement certification if she were convicted.