Wal-Mart employee admits long-time stolen Oreo habit
By Erin Guerra Post-Tribune correspondent February 19, 2013 2:10PM
Penny Winters | Provided photo~Sun-Times Media
Updated: February 19, 2013 7:47PM
PORTAGE -- After allegedly being caught eating a package of Oreos she hadn’t paid for, a longtime Wal-Mart employee admitted Monday to taking junk food from the company every week for four years, police said.
Penny Winters, 63, of Lake Station, reportedly told a store investigator the thefts have happened once or twice a week in the seven months she has worked at the Portage store, at 6087 U.S. 6. The rest of the thefts happened at a Wal-Mart in Arizona, where she was employed previously.
The store began an internal investigation after a empty cookie package was found Feb. 12 in the store. Surveillance video showed Winters helped herself to the snack, police said. When a manager questioned Winters on Monday night, she reportedly volunteered information about hundreds of previously unknown-of thefts.
All the thefts reportedly happened during Winters’s work shifts. She has been a full-time maintenance employee of the chain for seven years. So far, she is charged with only one count of felony theft.
