The Brownwood Police Department issued the following press release Monday afternoon:

On Saturday, April 23, 2022, at approximately 5:45 p.m., officers were dispatched to Walmart, 401 W Commerce, regarding a suspicious call.  This call would lead to the arrest of several subjects for ‘price swapping’.

When officers arrived at the location, they met with several Walmart employees who explained that there was a group of males in the store who were witnessed taking inexpensive price tags from food items and placing them over more expensive food items. By doing this, the males were purchasing items at a fraction of their actual cost.

Walmart employees initially identified a subject at a self-checkout stand.  This male was observed scanning items of food then paying for the items and exiting the store. As this customer passed the doorway, he was detained and identified as 45-year-old Alexander Lahera Gonzalez of Houston.  Gonzalez was detained and escorted to the loss prevention office where the swapped price tags were confirmed.  The other suspects were located still inside the store and brought to the office where swapped price tags were also observed in their carts.  Those subjects were identified as 42-year-old Yurisbel Cruz of Opalok, Florida and 45-year-old Alexander Alvarez of Houston.

At the conclusion of the investigation all subjects were arrested for Fraudulent Destruction, Removal, or Concealment of Writing.  Gonzalez was also charged with Theft of Property, less than $100.