WAKULLA COUNTY, Fla. (WTXL) - A newly released Wakulla County inmate soon returned behind bars after surveillance footage caught him picking up the victim's wallet in the jail's front lobby.
James Farmer was arrested and booked back into the Wakulla County Jail on Wednesday, charged with one count of larceny, the sheriff said in a Facebook post.
On Sept. 17, 2018, detectives reviewing surveillance video footage of the front lobby of the Wakulla County Sheriff’s Office saw the victim leave the lobby with a friend he had bonded out of jail.
The victim accidentally left his wallet in the chair next to the one in which had been seated.
Moments later, Farmer was released from the Wakulla Jail on bond and entered the front lobby.
Farmer retrieved a few items out of a brown paper bag and put his belt on. He then saw the wallet in the chair.
Farmer walked over, sat in a chair next to the one with the wallet, and placed his personal property on top of the wallet.
Farmer stood up, picked up his personal items, and also picked up the victim’s wallet. He then left the Sheriff's Office with the victim’s wallet, and without making any effort to notify authorities.
The detectives reviewed the surveillance video after the victim told them he had left his wallet in the front lobby of the Wakulla County Sheriff's Office on Sept. 15, 2018, when he bonded a friend out of jail.
The next day, the man’s wallet was found on top of a gas pump at a local gas station, and the finder of the wallet returned it to the victim.
When the victim searched through his wallet, he noted $40 cash was missing and notified the Wakulla County Sheriff’s Office.
