Police arrested a suspect in a theft from Walmart.
The theft occurred on Jan. 19, when employees of the El Dorado Walmart discovered a locked cabinet used to store electronic equipment had been forcibly entered.
The thieves removed five laptop computers from the store without paying for them, according to the police report.
Investigators from the El Dorado Police Department, in connection with other area law enforcement investigators, determined the crime was similar to cases being investigated in Newton and McPherson, also involving Walmart stores.
Video taped evidence from the various stores led investigators to conclude the same suspects were involved in the other cases.
In reviewing the tapes and searching the Kansas Department of Corrections data base, a suspect was positively identified, said Police Chief Tom Boren.
In the meantime, this suspect was incarcerated in Wichita on unrelated charges to the three Walmart cases. The El Dorado Police Department obtained a warrant for his arrest and a hold for El Dorado and Newton Police departments have been issued pending his release from Sedgwick County Jail.
Police are withholding the suspect's name pending actually serving him with the warrant, said Boren.
Investigators believe the suspect along with others still under investigation have recently unlawfully obtained more than $10,000 in stolen computers and related merchandise.
The combined investigations are continuing.
