A man accused of trying to walk out of a Plymouth Meeting Target with armfuls of stolen baby formula ended up sprinting through the store, into the parking lot, and behind a neighboring DSW Shoe Warehouse before officers caught up with him — but not before he ditched a loaded handgun down a storm drain. Johnathan Latore Shaquan Ward now faces felony weapons charges that carry far more prison time than the retail theft that started the whole ordeal.
According to the Newport Dispatch, Ward was arrested at the Target located at 2250 Chemical Road after allegedly attempting to steal multiple containers of baby formula from the store, a detail that lines up with what the state's retail industry organizations describe as one of the most frequently shoplifted items due to its high resale value on secondary fencing markets. The store sits inside the Metroplex Shopping Center in Plymouth Meeting, a busy commercial corridor along Chemical Road that includes DSW Shoe Warehouse next door, per prior reporting from Patch.
The Plymouth Township Police Department reported that Ward was uncooperative with Target loss prevention staff after being stopped over the alleged theft. Per police, he then fled on foot through the store and into the parking lot, according to the Newport Dispatch's account of the incident.
Gun Tossed Into a Storm Drain Mid-Chase
Police observed Ward kneeling on a sewer grate while discarding the handgun, per the report, and officers later recovered the weapon — a loaded Glock Model 43 9mm — from the sewer along with a magazine holding eight rounds of ammunition. Police also said Ward resisted officers attempting to take him into custody before he was finally arrested behind DSW Shoe Warehouse.
Ward has prior criminal convictions that legally bar him from possessing a firearm, according to the report, which is why the most serious charge he's facing isn't the theft itself. Court records published by CRIMEWATCH show Ward was charged with second-degree felony persons not to possess a firearm under 18 Pa.C.S. § 6105(a)(1), third-degree felony firearms not to be carried without a license under § 6106(a)(1), first-degree misdemeanor retail theft, first-degree misdemeanor receiving stolen property, and second-degree misdemeanor evading arrest or detention on foot.
A Felony Gun Charge With Real Prison Time
The firearm-possession charge alone carries significant weight. Under Pennsylvania law, possessing a gun after a prior felony conviction is a second-degree felony with an Offense Gravity Score of 10, and it can bring a statutory maximum of up to 10 years in state prison, according to Justia Law. By comparison, the retail theft charge under Pennsylvania Title 18, Section 3929 is graded as a first-degree misdemeanor punishable by up to five years if the stolen goods are valued at $150 or more, or if the defendant has a prior retail theft conviction, per Phil DiLucente & Associates.
Ward was arraigned by the on-call magisterial district judge and was unable to post the $50,000 cash bail set in his case, so he was remanded to the Montgomery County Correctional Facility. The county's detention jail sits in Eagleville, Pennsylvania, which is where defendants unable to meet bail conditions are typically held, as Hoodline noted in its coverage of a $155K theft ring. Ward has a preliminary hearing scheduled for 9:30 a.m. on September 1 before Magisterial District Judge Jodi Griffis, who presides over Magisterial District Court 38-1-13 covering Plymouth Township and surrounding communities.
Part of a Broader Crackdown on Retail Theft
The charges against Ward land amid a statewide push to escalate penalties for retail crime. In December 2023, Governor Josh Shapiro signed Senate Bill 596, known as Act 42, which created a specialized Office of Deputy Attorney General for Organized Retail Crime Theft and lowered the monetary thresholds that trigger felony retail theft prosecutions, according to the ACLU of Pennsylvania. State budgets for the past two fiscal years have backed that effort with $2.7 million annually in dedicated funding for the Attorney General's Organized Retail Crime Unit, which targets shoplifting and illegal reselling networks, per the Shelby Report.
It remains unclear what specific prior convictions triggered Ward's firearm prohibition, and investigators have not said whether he was acting alone or as part of a larger operation targeting high-demand retail goods like baby formula. Similar cases have surfaced elsewhere this year, including a South Florida trio charged in a $32,000 baby formula theft ring and a Brooklyn teen facing up to 21 years after a Davie, Florida formula bust, both signs of how aggressively authorities are now pursuing organized retail theft schemes tied to everyday household items.
