An assistant principal is on leave following allegations of stealing approximately $1,000 worth of merchandise from Walmart.
Courtney Shaw is accused of shoplifting 98 items from a Walmart store between November and December 2025. She was taken into custody at the Cherokee County jail in Georgia on January 26.
Shaw faces a felony charge of shoplifting and was released from jail on the same day after posting a $4,875 bond.
She holds the position of assistant principal at Free Home Elementary School. Due to the allegations, she has been placed on administrative leave.
Authorities report that Shaw utilized a technique known as the ‘stacking method’ to allegedly take the items. This involves scanning multiple items stacked together but only registering a single item at a self-checkout before exiting the store.
The total value of the 98 items Shaw is accused of taking amounts to $943.97, according to Fox 5 Atlanta.
Shaw has officially been put on administrative leave from her role at the school.
“Immediately upon these allegations being reported, the employee was placed on administrative leave pending the outcome of internal and law enforcement investigations,” the district told Fox 5.
“Maintaining the safety and security of our students and staff is our top priority and inappropriate conduct will never be tolerated,” it added.
As per the incident report, Shaw, who has been in education for 24 years, was identified by police thanks to surveillance footage provided by a Walmart employee. Authorities also traced two vehicles, a 2018 Ford F-150 and a 2020 Jeep Grand Cherokee, to her name.
The vehicles were located at Shaw’s residence and were confirmed to be hers.
Details regarding Shaw’s upcoming court appearances or any plea she may have entered remain unclear.
This incident involving Shaw coincides with Walmart’s decision over the past few years to remove some self-checkouts in select states, as reported by Newsweek in 2024.
Walmart stated the decision aimed to ‘improve the in-store shopping experience and give our associates the chance to provide more personalized and efficient service’. However, many speculate that it was also an effort to combat shoplifting incidents exploiting self-checkout lanes.
These challenges are not unique to Walmart, as similar issues affect all retailers using self-checkout systems.
According to Capital One Shopping, more than 36 million Americans have admitted to stealing from a self-checkout kiosk.
Recent data published on January 21 revealed that 27 percent of consumers confessed to using self-checkout to commit theft, with 55 percent indicating they would likely repeat the act.