MUNCIE, Ind. — A Walmart employee reporting that a lighter had been stolen led to a convicted child molester being arrested and charged with failure to have identification.

Jonathan Linthicum, 26, was arrested by Muncie police on Labor Day and preliminarily charged with failure to possess ID as a sex offender - a Level 6 felony. The arrest came after officers were called to a local Walmart on report of a shoplifter.

MPD crews were called around 4 p.m. Monday to the Walmart on W. Clara Lane after a caller reported that a man wearing a green shirt told her he was going to steal a lighter. Upon arrival, officers found a man matching the description standing near the store's service desk.

The man, whom police recognized as Linthicum, was reportedly holding a lighter that was out of the pack

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