Alpharetta police have arrested a man from Dalton who they say has stolen from at least 30 Target stores across Georgia and Tennessee.
Joshua W. Hartley, 35, was arrested a week ago on June 14 and is facing multiple theft charges. He was released the same day from a Fulton County jail on a $9,500 bond.
Alpharetta police told Channel 2 Action News that stores should be keeping a close eye on shoppers and invest in security cameras because that is what helped them crack this case.
Police told Channel 2 that Hartley would go into Target stores, pick out items, and then take them to customer service as if he had bought them and asked for a refund. Target workers would oblige and give Hartley a refund in the form of a gift card.
Police saw video of him doing this at the Target on North Point Parkway where he received nearly $500 in store credit for rugs he had placed in his cart just moments before taking them to customer service.
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Hartley has been doing this at Target stores since at least November 2016, police said. It’s unclear how much money he made in gift cards from doing this.
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