Police seek Wal-Mart manager, microwave packed with store’s cash
Posted on Thursday, February 1, 2007
In his six months as customer-service manager at the Wal-Mart Supercenter in Batesville, Kirby Archer took money and checks nightly from store registers to deposit at the cash office in the back of the store.
But Archer, 35, reportedly altered that routine Friday. Rather than turning in $ 92, 620 in store receipts, police said, the Strawberry resident took the money and fled.
Detective Capt. Bill Lindsey of the Independence County sheriff’s office said Archer evidently planned ahead. First the employee took a new microwave oven from the store and unpacked it in a back room. Then, about 10 p. m., he placed bags of cash and checks inside the microwave and returned the appliance to its box, Lindsey said.
Archer then purchased the microwave oven with his employee discount card and walked out of the store, the detective said. “He never came back,” Lindsey added.
1 Nearly 1 / 2 hours later and 70 miles away, police in the Craighead County town of Bono said they stopped Archer for speeding on U. S. 63 but were unaware that he was a suspect in a Wal-Mart theft.
“We didn’t know about [the theft ] at the time,” Bono Police Chief Lance Suttles said Wednesday. “I wish we did. We had him.”
Instead, after being handed a citation, Archer drove off, Lindsey said.
Independence County authorities released information that Archer was a suspect to other police departments at 11: 30 p. m., only minutes after Archer left Bono, Lindsey said.
Bono is about eight miles west of Jonesboro.
As far as police knew, Archer has no family in northeast Arkansas.
“We don’t know where he is headed,” Lindsey said. “We don’t know what he is thinking.”
The detective also said Archer may be able to elude police better than some, noting the suspect’s experience as a criminal investigator while serving in the military for at least 11 years.
“He may have received some training then that could help him out,” Lindsey said.
Managers at the Supercenter in Batesville referred calls to Wal-Mart’s corporate headquarters in Bentonville. Sharon Weber, a spokesman for the retail giant, said Archer has been suspended without pay.
“It’s an open, ongoing investigation,” Weber said. “It’s our policy to refer questions about investigations to the local police. We want to help them catch [Archer ]. The last thing we want to do is interfere with the investigation.”
Police described Archer as white, 6 feet tall, weighing 190 pounds and having short brown hair and hazel eyes. He was last seen driving a blue 1991 Dodge Caravan, which was the vehicle stopped in Bono.
Lindsey asked anyone with information about Archer’s whereabouts to call the Independence County sheriff’s office at (870 ) 793-8838.
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