Watsontown man charged after stealing $1,800 in goods from Lewisburg Walmart

A Watsontown man was charged with felony retail theft after state police said he stole more than $1,800 in merchandise from the Walmart Supercenter in Kelly Township over two days, a haul that included a push mower, a chainsaw, a Ninja slushy ice machine, wireless headphones, a Troy-Bilt lawn mower and a crossbow.

Alex Eugene Orozco, 22, was accused of taking the items from the store at 120 AJK Blvd. in Lewisburg, a busy shopping stop that sits in the heart of Union County retail traffic. The alleged loss was well above Pennsylvania’s $1,000 threshold for third-degree felony retail theft, turning what might have looked like a store theft case into a more serious criminal charge.

Trooper Charles Casey of Pennsylvania State Police at Milton was called to the store after reports of thefts on April 17 and April 18. Walmart’s asset protection officer pointed Casey to video surveillance that allegedly showed the suspected thefts, according to the report. Casey then went to Orozco’s home and explained to his father what he had seen on the video.

Orozco’s father told the trooper he had already suspected the items were stolen because he did not know how his son could afford them. Orozco later arrived home while Casey was there and was taken into custody. Police said he admitted to the thefts, and most of the merchandise was recovered at the home.

The charge was filed through District Judge Jeffrey A. Rowe’s office, and bail was set at $1,500 unsecured. A preliminary hearing was scheduled for April 30.

The case added to a pattern that has become familiar around the Lewisburg Walmart in Kelly Township. A local report from March 2024 said three people were charged after police alleged more than $1,000 in merchandise was stolen from the same store, underscoring how often the Supercenter has surfaced in retail theft cases. For Union County shoppers, the repeated complaints raise a practical question: whether theft at one of the area’s highest-traffic stores is becoming a more visible cost and security problem.