Two Douglas residents arrested on string of shoplifting charges

By Bill Hess
Wick News Service
Published/Last Modified on Tuesday, March 17, 2009 12:06 PM MDT


SIERRA VISTA — Two Douglas men are accused of shoplifting after they were caught with merchandise from four area stores in their car on Friday.


Brandon M. Arevalo, 23, and Joseph G. Arvizu, 19, both of Douglas, allegedly stole a digital camera from Walmart in Sierra Vista around 12:30 p.m. by cutting the cable securing the item and then fled the scene with the camera, according to a Sierra Vista Police report.

Police spokeswoman Officer Tracy Grady said the two men returned to the store around 2 p.m. and were watched by security personnel who saw Arevalo and Arvizu allegedly attempt to steal two flat screen televisions. Their attempt to take the TVs “out through the garden center part of the store was unsuccessful,” Grady said.

The two suspects then went to their car and were driving out of the parking lot when they were stopped by Sierra Vista police, she said.

It was then the “plain sight doctrine,” came into play, the spokeswoman said.

Articles seen with in a person’s sight can be used to help build a case if a crime is suspected and other merchandise is seen, Grady said.

The items from three different stores at the Mall at Sierra Vista that were in the car also were reportedly shoplifted, she said, adding that during the search of the vehicle a concealed weapon was found

Dillard’s, Famous Footwear and Spencer Gifts were the three mall stores involved.

The two have been charged with shoplifting, attempted shoplifting and carrying a concealed firearm, Grady said.

Arevalo and Arvizu were taken to the Cochise County Jail facility in Sierra Vista where on Monday they were each being held on a $4,000 bond.

 

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