MULBERRY, Fla. — An officer with the Haines City Police Department has resigned after he was arrested for repeatedly shoplifting hundreds of dollars worth of merchandise from the Walmart in Mulberry, an arrest report explains.
David Griffin, 48, was at the store with Shelbi Dubose, 28, on Saturday, Dec. 9. An employee reportedly noticed Griffin was putting items in Walmart bags without scanning them at the checkout.
The employee came up to Griffin, told him about the items and helped ensure they were all scanned. However, Griffin and Dubose quickly went back to bagging items without scanning them afterward.
When the two tried to leave the store, deputies say Walmart security stopped them and found that, while Griffin and Dubose had bought more than $200 worth of goods, they stole more than $340 worth of unscanned items.
Through a combination of store transaction records and security video, Walmart employees determined that Griffin had allegedly shoplifted like this four times before, throughout Oct. and Nov. 2023. Three of those times, Dubose was stealing with him, the report explains.
Polk County deputies arrested both Griffin and Dubose and charged them with multiple counts of petit theft, prompting Griffin to resign from his job with the Haines City Police Department.
Haines City police chief Greg Goreck said in a statement that Griffin would quickly have been fired had he not resigned.
"I want to assure the public that we hold our officers to the highest standards of integrity and ethical conduct," Goreck said. "This behavior is not representative of the dedicated men and women who serve our community with honor and commitment every day."