One Man’s Trash… Thief Allegedly Uses Garbage Can to Steal from Woodbury Wal-Mart

A St. Paul man allegedly used a garbage can—twice in the span of four days—to steal items from the Woodbury Wal-Mart.

William Robert Evans, 45, faces a felony theft charge in connection with the September 2012 incidents in Woodbury.

Wal-Mart workers contacted police after noticing missing merchandise and seeing on surveillance footage two people enter the store on Sept. 20 and place several items inside a garbage can they had in a cart, according to the criminal complaint.

The man pushed the cart out of the store without paying for the items (valued at $495) in the garbage can, the complaint says.

Surveillance footage from Sept. 24 showed a similar theft—using the garbage can method—and $329 worth of goods was taken, according to the complaint.

On both occasions, different women who were with him at the time of the thefts completed non-receipt returns, and police learned from their driver’s licenses that they both live at an apartment in St. Paul.

Police on Sept. 31 went to the apartment complex and saw a car matching the description of the red four-door sedan seen in surveillance footage at the Woodbury store on the dates of the thefts, according to the complaint.

The car was registered to Evans; his license photo matched the suspect seen in the thefts; and one of the women police questioned positively identified him, the complaint says.

Evans was convicted in 2008 of motor vehicle theft in Hennepin County.

If convicted, he faces up to five years in prison and a $10,000 fine.  

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