A couponing couple from Florida has been arrested a thousand miles from home, after allegedly using thousands of dollars worth of counterfeit coupons at Walmart and returning their purchases for cash.
Police in the city of St. Peters, in suburban St. Louis, were called to a nearby Walmart this past Saturday. Employees said a man had just returned several pricey items that his receipts showed he had purchased two days earlier at another Walmart, using “multiple fraudulent coupons” to get “an unusually steep discount.”
One receipt showed a $49.94 electric toothbrush purchased for just $1.10. In total, Walmart said the man returned $244.77 worth of merchandise – for which he had paid next to nothing – and “received a full retail price refund in cash.”
Store management later discovered the same man had hit up yet another nearby Walmart, using counterfeit coupons to get $458.31 worth of merchandise for just $3.44.
On Sunday, the man showed up at the St. Peters Walmart again. This time, police said, he had a female accomplice who used fraudulent coupons during the visit. The two bought $179.88 worth of merchandise and paid just $2.72.
By this time, a review of receipts and surveillance footage led Walmart to believe the suspects were responsible for purchasing more than $10,000 worth of merchandise using counterfeit coupons, and returning those purchases for cash refunds.
A few hours later, shortly after midnight, the two suspects were pulled over during an unrelated traffic stop. St. Peters police went to investigate, and the man, who was driving, allowed them to search his vehicle.
“I observed numerous Walmart bags containing items which appeared to be consistent in price to previous items stolen from Walmart,” the officer wrote in an arrest affidavit. “I identified a pair of boxing gloves in the rear seat of the vehicle which were previously reported as stolen.” And he discovered $10,336 in cash, wrapped in rubber bands. Given that the amount of cash was roughly the same as Walmart had reported stolen, the two suspects were arrested.
The two have been identified as 29-year-old Yardley Barthelemy of Riverview, Florida, and 20-year-old Amanda Futch of Barton, Florida. Police said Barthelemy “admitted to purchasing various items from Walmart using coupons he found on Reddit and Facebook pages,” and admitted to returning the items “occasionally.” Futch also “admitted that she found the fraudulent coupons on Reddit,” and said she flew to Missouri from Florida in order to spend time with Barthelemy, with whom she is in a relationship.
Walmart recently changed its return policy to prevent this very type of scenario. “When an item is returned, the refund credit will not include any manufacturer coupon credit that applied to the original transaction,” reads the latest policy, which was updated last fall. The previous policy stated that “returns of items purchased using Manufacturer Coupons will include the coupon value returned to the customer in their original form of tender.” So Barthelemy should only have received in return what he paid out of pocket for the items he purchased.
Apparently not every Walmart got the memo.
A Walmart investigation found that Barthelemy had “two previous encounters” at Walmart stores in other states, which led to his ban from all Walmart stores in Florida and Nebraska.
That, police surmise, could explain what he was doing in Missouri, since he’s not allowed to go into any Walmart at home. “Barthelemy resides in Florida and appears to have no legitimate ties to the St. Louis region,” the arrest affidavit reads. And all of the items he purchased “are commonly stolen and fenced,” police explained.
Both suspects have been charged with organized retail theft. Barthelemy is out of jail on $5,000 bond, while Futch remains behind bars. Both have been ordered to stay away from each other, and to stay out of any Walmart store in the state of Missouri.
For Barthelemy, that now makes three states where Walmart will no longer welcome him. If he wants to do any more couponing at Walmart while he awaits the outcome of this case, there are 47 states left where he can try to get it right.
Image source: Jay Phagan 
