WICHITA FALLS (KFDX/KJTL) — A suspect in a series of thefts from Walmarts across the state of Texas is now jailed in Wichita County after police said he confessed to stealing “all of the Apple Airpods” from a Walmart in Wichita Falls.
Robert Lee Williams, 29, of La Marque (located near Galveston), is charged with theft over $2,500 but under $30,000 in Wichita County following an incident that occurred in July 2020.
The arrest affidavit on Williams said he’s currently jailed with over 24 arrest warrants for thefts he has committed in multiple counties across Texas.
Robert Williams mugshot courtesy Wichita County Jail
Currently, he’s being held on a $50,000 bond in the Wichita County Law Enforcement Center. Also listed on the jail log are four other charges out of Sumner and Galveston counties.
According to the affidavit, an investigator with the Crimes Against Property division of the Wichita Falls Police Department traveled to Llano, Texas, where Williams was in custody for an alleged theft that occurred in San Angelo.
The investigator said he questioned Williams during a custodial interview in which Williams confessed to stealing Apple Airpods from a Walmart in Wichita Falls.
That alleged incident occurred on July 27, 2020, at the Walmart location in the 5100 block of Greenbriar Road in Wichita Falls. Police said they received a call at around 9:22 a.m. about a theft that had just occurred.
The reporting party told police that two suspects entered the store around 8:50 a.m. on July 27 and went to the electronics section. The suspects then forced open a display case and removed “all of the Apple Airpods” from the case and placed them into a cart.
According to police, the suspects then walked out of the store without paying and left the store in a grey Dodge Charger. The representative of Walmart told police the total value was up to $7,000.
The WFPD investigator later spoke with a Walmart Global Investigator, who informed them that Williams, who was linked to numerous Walmart thefts across the state of Texas, was one of the suspects in this incident.
Some of those alleged thefts of other Texas Walmarts have been reported by regional news partners of KFDX since 2018, including the following:
- KARD/KTVE — Man steals $11,000 in electronics from Walmart then crashes car
- KXAN — Llano County deputies arrest 2 men accused of stealing more than $20,000 in electronics
- KLST/KSAN — $277.5k bond for organized activity, 26 warrants across Texas
The affidavit said when the WFPD investigator who visited Williams in Llano showed him surveillance photographs from the incident, Williams confirmed he was one of the two suspects.
According to KLST/KSAN, other counties in which Williams has warrants include Tom Green, Angelina, Tarrant, McClennan, Hill, Galveston, Brazoria, Sumner, Matagorda, Bell, Harris, and Hillsboro counties.
This is the third statewide Walmart theft ring to impact Walmarts in Wichita Falls.
In May 2022, Radu Benone pleaded guilty to two separate cases of engaging in organized criminal activity — theft for his role in a theft ring that targeted cell phones at Walmarts across the state.
Benone was one of three suspects authorities said traveled all around the state of Texas, stealing iPhones and electronics from various Walmart locations, including all three Wichita Falls stores, in 2019.
Police learned from corporate Walmart security officials that three suspects had been arrested for theft in a Walmart in Lufkin earlier in 2019, and police said at least two of them were involved in the Wichita Falls cases.
In March 2021, Davon Blue was sentenced to two years in prison suspended to five years probation, and thousands of dollars in restitution and fines after pleading guilty to his role in stealing computers, electronics, and other items from the Walmart on Lawrence Road in February 2020.
Police said in February 2020, six suspects operated a theft ring at Walmart, and each thief was assigned a different role in the thefts.
Investigators said Blue chose the items to steal for the others and pushed the shopping cart out of the store.