Norwich — A Tampa, Fla., woman is being held by Norwich police as a fugitive from justice wanted in New Jersey on charges stemming from an alleged organized shoplifting scheme that also was carried out at Walmarts in Norwich, Lisbon and Waterford, according to an arrest warrant affidavit.

Dominique Keara Alethia Butler, 23, was charged by Norwich police Thursday with being a fugitive from justice and was being held on a $30,000 bond for extradition. She had been arrested earlier this week in Norwich on charges of fifth-degree larceny and organized retail theft.

According to the Norwich affidavit, on Aug. 5, 2019, Butler allegedly worked with two other people on an organized plan to distract the cashier long enough for one of the participants to print a cash receipt pretending to have paid for the items. The three participants allegedly left the store with $2,470.79 worth of merchandise, according to the affidavit.

A Norwich Walmart official informed police that later on Aug. 5, Butler’s two companions in the Norwich incident were arrested in similar incidents at the Lisbon and the Waterford Walmarts. They were not identified in the Norwich police warrant.

The store official also said that on Aug. 2, three days prior to the alleged Norwich theft, Butler had entered the Norwich Walmart with three items allegedly taken from the Lisbon store and the fraudulent receipt from that store and allegedly received $789.12 cash for returning the items. Police seized video surveillance footage from the store from the dates of the alleged thefts.

The Connecticut Judicial Branch website shows Butler faces charges in addition to the Norwich arrest this week, but the docket file is listed as sealed in that case in New London Superior Court.

A police warrant affidavit from New Jersey on file with the Norwich Police Department described a similar incident at a Walmart store in Port Murray, N.J., allegedly by “distracting the Walmart cashier by having them walk away from the sale terminal to scan items on the bottom of the shopping cart so that the other female suspect could press the "cash tender" button causing the register cash drawer to open and finalize the transaction.”

Last month, Artianna R. Wiggins, 23, of Tampa, Fla., was charged with third-degree larceny/shoplifting and organized retail theft in the same scheme. Norwich police said Friday they were searching for a third suspect, a woman also from Tampa, but did not release a name.