Alleged Thief Tried To Buy Meal With Credit Card He Stole From The Waitress

A charge got him charged.

An alleged thief in Arkansas got arrested after he tried to pay for a meal using the waitress’ own stolen credit card, police said.

Flora Lunsford, a 58-year-old waitress at Shannon's Restaurant in Pine Bluff, lost the card Sunday when a man broke into her vehicle while she was inside a gas station. Surveillance video showed the man breaking into the car after she parked it at a pump.

He allegedly stole her purse and then hopped into his car and left without paying for the gas he pumped into it. Another man, who allegedly shoplifted a drink from the store, got in the passenger side and fled with him, police said.

The suspected thief, Shamon West, unwittingly handed the card to its owner at her job. She called the cops and they cuffed West. Police discovered that West also had his waitresses’ driver’s license, social security card and other credit cards in his possession.

"As a side note, the driver’s license, as all do, had her picture on it," Pine Bluff Police said in a statement. "Therefore, you would think he should have known what she looked like. Yet, he still handed her own credit card to her."

Lundsford said she was especially amused that West didn't notice her photo.

"Kinda hilarious, that part is real funny," she told KLRT in Little Rock.

"Never dawned on him."

West, 21, has been charged with forgery, theft by receiving and three counts of failure to appear. He’s in jail on a $2,840 bond, according to online jail records. The man who was caught on camera fleeing the gas station with him hasn't been identified or arrested.

[Photo: Jefferson County Sheriff's Office]