Two unidentified white males walked out of the Walmart Supercenter in Lancaster on Tuesday with roughly $175 worth of candy they never paid for, and now the Lancaster County Sheriff's Office wants the public's help putting names to their faces. Investigators say the pair fled the scene in what appeared to be a black Hyundai Genesis.
The case, tied to the Walmart Supercenter at 805 Highway 9 Bypass West according to South Carolina state records on the store's designation as Store #1030, was detailed in a Facebook post from the Lancaster County Sheriff's Office asking simply, “Can you help us identify these suspects?” The post notes that investigators are requesting information identifying either suspect or anyone who can otherwise assist the investigation.
How to Report a Tip
Anyone with information is asked to call the sheriff's office at (803) 283-3388, and tips can also be submitted anonymously through Crime Stoppers or the P3 Tips mobile app. The department is asking that anyone providing information reference Case 26-61296, the number assigned to the theft investigation.
Under South Carolina law, the value of the alleged theft keeps the case well below the threshold for felony charges. South Carolina Code § 16-13-110 classifies shoplifting merchandise valued at $2,000 or less as a misdemeanor, punishable upon conviction by a fine of up to $1,000 or up to 30 days in prison, while thefts exceeding that amount can be charged as felony grand larceny carrying up to five years in prison, per the same statute.
How Intent Gets Established in Court
State law also spells out how prosecutors establish criminal intent in cases like this one. South Carolina Code § 16-13-120 creates a legal inference that anyone who willfully conceals unpurchased merchandise on or outside store premises intends to convert it to their own use without paying, a provision that shapes how retail theft cases move through South Carolina courts.
This is not the first time this year that Lancaster County deputies have turned to the public for help identifying retail theft suspects. In August, the sheriff's office sought a suspect in a separate Indian Land Walmart shoplifting case, and separately pursued two suspects accused of concealing goods in a stroller during a Costco theft along the U.S. 521 corridor. Both cases, like this one, relied on the same combination of surveillance footage, case numbers and public tip lines that the sheriff's office is using again this week.
A Broader Pattern in Retail Crime
The Lancaster case arrives amid shifting national trends in retail theft. A National Retail Federation report found that U.S. retailers saw a 12.4% decrease in shoplifting incidents between 2024 and 2025 as stores ramped up security technology and asset protection measures. Yet a separate NRF study published in August found that half of surveyed retailers reported an increase in repeat offender activity, while 40% saw a rise in organized retail crime events, a trend that helps explain why local agencies increasingly track suspects across multiple retail locations rather than treating each theft as an isolated incident.
State law reinforces that tracking effort. South Carolina Code § 16-13-111 requires magistrates and municipal courts to report all first- and second-offense shoplifting convictions to the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division's Communications and Records Division, feeding a centralized database accessible to law enforcement statewide. Lancaster County itself spans 549 square miles and roughly 111,000 residents, and the sheriff's office maintains a dedicated Crime Scene Unit, established in 2009 with federal grant funds, that processes physical evidence and surveillance footage to support prosecutions.
Whether the black Hyundai Genesis seen leaving the scene will help identify the suspects, and whether the pair are connected to other thefts along the Highway 9 or U.S. 521 retail corridors, remain open questions. For now, investigators are relying on the public to fill in the gaps.
