Woman Arrested Suspected of Stealing $70,000+ From Walmart

A woman recently arrested during a traffic stop in Gadsden (Alabama), is suspected to be part of a multi-state theft spree with 46 prior theft cases from Walmart stores across the Southeast.  According to the Rome Police Department and Etowah County (Alabama) Sheriff’s Office – Larisa Vasile-Sima, 21, is now facing Theft and Criminal Mischief charges, among others, in Alabama.  

During her arrest, she told the Etowah County Jail Deputies, that she was Armenian and that she had no Social Security number, official address or driver’s license.  Since the arrest she’s been identified as a suspect in one of the East Rome Walmart surveillance videos, as one of two women who had pried open a jewelry display case – and then, stole assorted pieces of jewelry at around 5:00pm on Sunday, July 7th.

A report stated that the two women left the store a few minutes later and got into a gray minivan that was waiting for them.

She is also suspected of stealing $1,138 worth of jewelry from what was described as an unlocked display at the same Walmart earlier in the day, at 10:54am; a Walmart representative told the police that Sima had been arrested in Alabama along with several others on unrelated charges.  He also told Rome police that she has 46 prior cases across the Southeast and she’s stolen some $70,000 worth of merchandise from the company.

She is currently being held without bond in Etowah County, Alabama.

(Rome News-Tribune)