A woman who was released on a court summons for shoplifting Wednesday was later arrested after it was determined she had provided a false identity.
Ruston Police responded to the Walmart Supercenter Wednesday to investigate a theft by shoplifting. A Walmart employee said he witnessed two women swap price tags on several items. One of the women identified herself as Mercedes Buggs. Both women were issued court summons for theft.
Due to some question of Buggs’s identity, an officer investigated further and suspected the alleged shoplifter was not Mercedes Buggs. The officer was able to contact Mercedes and learned the shoplifting suspect was actually Leandra Buggs, 22, of Ruston.
Leandra Buggs was later spotted by police and taken into custody. She was booked for theft by shoplifting, resisting an officer by providing a false name, and warrants for failure to appear in court on charges of disturbing the peace, improper supervision of a minor, and two counts of resisting an officer.
This information has been provided by a law enforcement agency as public information. Persons named or shown in photographs or video as suspects in a criminal investigation, or arrested and charged with a crime, have not been convicted of any criminal offense and are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
