A Richland man is suspected of walking up to a Walmart checkout clerk armed with a note and walking away with about $1,000 in cash.
Police say they caught him less than a block away with the money stuffed into his wallet.
Abrahan L. Carias, 25, is being held in the Franklin County jail on suspicion of first-degree robbery and second-degree theft. He is being held in lieu of $10,000 bail.
The Walmart employee told police that Carias walked up to the register at the Road 68 Walmart in Pasco on July 8 carrying a plant. After she rang it up, he told her that he didn't want it, according to court documents.
As she was canceling the transaction, he allegedly handed her a note that said, "I have a weapon. Open the register. Give me everything."
"She stated she immediately took a step back from the open register and froze, stating she was afraid he actually had a weapon and was not going to push the issue," Pasco Officer Jeremy Wakeman said.
Carias allegedly reached into the register and grabbed all of the large bills and stuffed them into his pocket. He then walked out of the Garden Center door. The employee ran to a supervisor who called 911.
Police found Carias walking out of nearby plasma donation center. The cashier later identified him as the person who took the money.
Investigators allegedly found $990 in his wallet. They also found a backpack, with the clothes he was wearing at Walmart, stashed in the center's bathroom.
While Carias didn't admit to robbing the store, he "advised he understood he used a note to indicate he had a weapon and demanded money," Wakeman wrote.
Police did not report finding a weapon.
About a year ago, Carias robbed the same Walmart using a similar note. He told the cashier and manager at the register that he was homeless and was having a bad day.
That time police found $1,480 in his backpack when he was arrested blocks away from the store.
He pleaded guilty to second-degree robbery in January and was sentenced to a year in prison.
