Lowes Hardware Scammed Repeatedly

Wilkesboro Police are working a scam pulled against a local retail, in a case that may tie to others across the area. According to store security personnel at Lowes hardware, 51-year old Talmadge Coley of Winston-Salem and a group of friends have made returns on items they'd never purchased in the first place. Coley was caught Monday trying to do it again at the Wilkesboro Lowes. His name was flagged on the computer, because he had no-receipt refunds several times in July. So store employees turned him down on returning the items, which he then turned around and walked out with, putting them in the trunk of his Mercedes. A videotape of the incident shows one of Coley's accomplices going throughout the store, picking up about 15-hundred dollars worth of merchandise. The man then rolled the cart to the return desk and left it for Coley to walk in moments later and try to get the refund. Store security say not only has the same group hit the Wilkesboro store several times, but a number of North Carlina stores have reported the same problem. Tecases remain under investigation.