A North Carolina man and woman were arrested over the weekend in connection with a string of shoplifting incidents in which the pair reportedly stole nearly $2,000 worth of high-dollar items from a local retail store.

Officers of the Elizabethton Police Department arrested Eulis Alfred Adams, 44, and Angela Faye Rose, 41, both of 254 Bowman St., Elk Park, N.C., on Friday. Officers charged Adams with one count of shoplifting over $500, a felony offense, and three counts of shoplifting under $500, a misdemeanor charge. Police charged Rose with one count of shoplifting over $500 and one count of shoplifting under $500.

The police department began an investigation in January into several “push-out” thefts at the Elizabethton Walmart that had occurred in December and January, EPD Investigator Todd Hamm said. Walmart employees began looking into the thefts after discovering two generators were missing from the store’s inventory, he said.

Store employees reviewed video surveillance tapes from the store and discovered four shoplifting incidents involving a man later identified as Adams. On two of those occasions, Adams brought a woman,  later identified as Rose, into the store with him.

Employees were able to get video surveillance showing Adams using a gold crew-cab pickup and were able to get a tag number for the truck, Hamm said, adding the vehicle was not registered to Adams but to another man who lived in North Carolina.

“Mr. Adams was employed by the owner of the vehicle used in the thefts,” Hamm said.

Adams and Rose used several different methods to shoplift items from the Walmart store, Hamm said. In some cases, the two simply pushed merchandise out the door without paying for it. In one case, they opened packaging for inexpensive items and placed expensive merchandise in the boxes.

The pair also entered the store, put merchandise in a shopping cart and then took it to the customer service desk, where they attempted to obtain a “refund” for the items, Hamm said. When the store refused the refund because Adams and Rose could not provide receipts, the two left the store with the merchandise which had not been paid for, he added.

Among the items Adams and Rose are alleged to have stolen are two gas-powered generators, a 42-inch Vizio flat screen television, a welder set, two portable DVD players, a Bostitch impact wrench and a Bostitch socket set, Hamm said. The total estimated value for the items stolen is $1,940.70.

Aftet their arrests Friday, Adams and Rose were taken to the Carter County Detention Center. Adams was being held on a $3,250 bond while Rose’s bond was set at $2,750. Both Adams and Rose are scheduled to be arraigned in Carter County General Sessions Court Wednesday.