AUSTINTOWN Salesclerk accused of giving unauthorized discounts

AUSTINTOWN -- Police received several theft reports over the weekend, including one that led to the arrest of an employee at the Ames store on Mahoning Avenue.
Ames management believes the employee gave two men unauthorized discounts for at least $1,954 in merchandise during the past several days.
The employee, 24, of South Turner Road, was arrested Friday night and charged with theft. Police were called to the store after an Ames security officer watched the two men, who he believed were shoplifters, pay for seven items at the employee's register about 6 p.m. The security officer later checked the register's journal and found the employee had not charged the men full price for the items.
The two left the store before the discounts were discovered. The employee told police he had been giving the men similar discounts for the past six days.
Other reports: Police also are looking into a report that a woman left the Ames store at 10:30 a.m. Sunday with a shopping cart full of items she had not purchased. The woman told a store manager who had followed her out of the store the she would come back and pay for the items.
The woman then left the store parking lot in a van with the items.
Thieves also reportedly stole a coat from the JC Penney's store on Mahoning Avenue; a keyboard from the Kmart on Mahoning Avenue; a wallet from the IGA on Mahoning Avenue; jewelry from a North Raccoon Road home; and gas from the Pilot station on state Route 46 and the Shell station on Mahoning Avenue.