Police Arrest Three After Being Called to Wal-Mart

Toccoa Police said three people from a purported North Carolina church were arrested after they were asked to leave Wal-Mart earlier this week.

According to Toccoa Police Chief Tim Jarrell, officers responded to the store Tuesday after receiving a call regarding a group that was there raising money.

“Officers from the Toccoa Police Department were called to respond to Wal-Mart parking lot because there were individuals on the property that had been barred from Wal-Mart the previous day,” said Jarrell.

Jarrell said the group purported to be representing a church from North Carolina, the North Carolina Restoration Church.

However, he said the group was not following Wal-Mart protocol for fund-raising.

“Wal-Mart has a policy that if you wish to conduct any business on their property, you have to actually have written permission to be able to do so and it has to go through their store manager and different individuals,” said Jarrell. “They had not been obtaining permission to be on the property for their activities.”

Jarrell said the group had actually been banned from Wal-Marts in Suwanee, Hartwell, and even from Toccoa recently.

He went on to say that when someone is banned from one Wal-Mart property, the company bans them from all Wal-Mart properties.

As a result, the chief said police then asked the group to leave.

“While speaking with the individuals, Travis Ezekiel Wright, of Augusta, Georgia, refused to cooperate with the officers and after being asked several times to calm down and then to leave the premises, he was arrested for disorderly conduct,” said Jarrell.

Arrested along with the 19-year-old Wright were 28-year-old Marcus Williams of Chattanooga, Tennessee and 36-year-old Karl Forrontae Mathis of Charlotte, North Carolina.

Jarrell said Mathis was charged with Trespass because he was barred from another Wal-Mart previously.

Meanwhile, Jarrell said Williams was wanted on a felony probation violation out of Tennessee and is in custody awaiting possible extradition.