FAYETTEVILLE -- A former employee was arrested in connection with a store burglary after he called the business, identified himself as a police detective and asked whether they knew about the theft.
Cody Wilson, 25, of 4207 N. Chrysler Dr. in Fayetteville was arrested in connection with commercial burglary, theft of property and criminal impersonation. He was being held in the Washington County Detention Center on Friday with no bond set.
Police said Wilson, a former employee of the Buckle store in the Northwest Arkansas Mall, went to the rear entrance of the store Wednesday, told workers he was with the electric company and needed access to the store's electrical panel. After a while, Wilson told an employee he was finished and would leave through the back door.
Police received a call from the assistant store manager Thursday who said someone called, said he was a detective and asked for a statement to be emailed to him about a possible theft at the business. The manager checked the safe and found $1,822 missing, but when she tried to use the email address and phone number the caller gave, both were invalid.
A police officer determined Wilson had been at the store Wednesday evening and Wilson's phone number was in the store's caller records Thursday morning.
Wilson told police he posed as the electrical worker and instead of leaving, he hid in the ceiling above the store's bathroom. Wilson said he knew the code to the safe in the office and he took the money, according to police. Wilson said he wanted to know whether the theft had been discovered so he called the store posing as a police officer.
NW News on 03/16/2019