HUNTSVILLE — A new document obtained on Wednesday by WAFF-TV alleges Huntsville City Councilman Devyn Keith committed more than 30 thefts in three Huntsville Walmart locations.
Keith, who was arrested last week for and alleged shoplifting, was booked again this week into the Madison County Jail. Keith turned himself in Wednesday morning after four new arrest warrants related to theft of property were sworn out. The warrants all stem from different occasions. The warrants were requested Monday by Walmart.
Keith’s attorney, John Taylor, did not return a call left at his office Wednesday.
On Wednesday, Keith posted on his Facebook page:
“At advice of my legal counsel, I will no longer be discussing my ongoing litigation.
“I have received a court date and I will give my final statement at tomorrow’s city council meeting.
“More importantly…know that I love you all and I thank God for you.
“Devyn Keith.”
According to WAFF, the document said Huntsville police was notified about a man who was later identified as Keith allegedly stealing from three Walmart stores. Keith allegedly shoplifted from the locations from Nov. 14, 2022, to Feb. 2, 2023.
The thefts that were specifically outlined in the newly obtained document occurred at the Walmart at 6140 University Drive, the television station said.
WAFF said a self-checkout host noticed in early January that Keith had been “skip-scanning” items at the self-checkout and that he did not pay for his entire cart. “Skip-scanning” is where an offender will intentionally not scan all of their items at the self-checkout, the station said.
“On Jan. 5, 2023, a self-checkout host identified Mr. Keith ‘skip and scanning’ items at the self-checkout of this store,” the document said. “The checkout host saw that Mr. Keith did not pay for all of the items that he had in his cart and confronted him about it. The total value of this incident was $127.88. The self-checkout host then advised Mr. Keith to return to the kiosk and pay for the remainder of the items to which Mr. Keith obliged.”
WAFF said Walmart launched an investigation into Keith as per standard protocol for customers suspected of “skip-scanning.” Walmart searched Keith’s credit card in their system, then reviewed the footage from each incident in which the card was used, the station said.
Through the investigation, Walmart determined that the majority of the times that Mr. Keith went to Walmart, he committed theft by “skip-scanning,” WAFF said.
Staff determined that he had committed 15 thefts at the Walmart on University Drive, totaling over $300 in stolen merchandise, WAFF said.
“Advised me that they found 15 different times that Mr. Keith had ‘skip-scanned’ items at this specific store,” the document said. “The total dollar amount for this store is $331.69 video footage documenting these thefts has been recovered and produced by Walmart loss prevention staff.”
WAFF reported the document shows a large number of thefts were reported at different locations.
“Two additional cases will be created and references at the end of this report for the other two locations,” the document obtained by WAFF said. “The total amount of thefts that have been reported so far is 31 different thefts.”
A Madison County Sheriff’s Department spokesman said the case is being handled by the county due to Keith’s position with the city of Huntsville.
“The prosecution of the case is now being handled by the Madison County District Court, thereby eliminating any perception of, or potential for, conflict of interest,” he said.
The councilman was originally arrested Feb. 2 for shoplifting from the University Drive Walmart. That charge was a Class A misdemeanor.
Austen Shipley is a staff writer for Yellowhammer News.
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