After a man was arrested for shoving stolen men’s underwear from Walmart in his backpack, police found something else inside — bath salts.
Charles Eric Johnson, 47, of Gainesville, is accused of stealing more than $128 of underwear and T-shirts from Walmart, at 2900 SW 42nd St., and trying to smuggle bath salts into the Alachua County Jail, according to an arrest report.
A Walmart employee noticed Johnson crouching in the men’s underwear section and stuffing packages of clothing into his pink backpack. Johnson left the store without paying, the report said.
The employee tried to stop Johnson in the parking lot, but he was already gone, the report said. An officer in a patrol car saw Johnson nearby and told him to stop, but he ran across the street instead.
Police ran to catch up with Johnson less than a mile away on Clark Butler Boulevard and found several packages of underwear and T-shirts inside his bag and pants leg, the report said.
Johnson told police he stole the clothes because he didn’t have the money and planned on giving them to someone else. He ran away because there was a warrant for his arrest for failing to appear in court, and he didn’t want to get caught again, the report said.
When police asked Johnson if he had anything illegal before going inside the jail, he said he didn’t, police said. But police found a broken glass pipe and a small syringe with a clear liquid inside the backpack.
The liquid tested positive for bath salts, the report said. Johnson told police the liquid was molly, a synthetic drug associated with ecstasy.
Johnson was charged with theft, possession of dangerous drugs, possession of drug paraphernalia, resisting an officer without violence, smuggling drugs into a jail and failure to appear in court.
He is being held in Alachua County Jail in lieu of a $27,500 bond.
Contact Amanda Rosa at arosa@alligator.org and follow her on Twitter at @AmandaNicRosa
