POLK COUNTY, Fla. (WFLA) — A Polk County principal is accused of "skip scanning" at a Walmart self-checkout. According to the interim superintendent, Alricky Smith, Gregory Lewis, the principal at Bok Academy North, is on administrative leave while Lake Wales Charter Schools review the situatio n. "At this time, I am unable to provide any comments on the next steps, as this matter is ongoing," wrote Smith in a letter to trustees. The Winter Haven Police Department said officers were called to the Walmart at 7450 Cypress Gardens Boulevard in Winter Haven around 1:30 p.m. Saturday for retail theft. An asset protection officer told Winter Haven officers that Lewis was "skip scanning" at the self-checkout. The AP officer said Lewis was seen placing a bag of disposable foam plates between items of higher value. Officers spoke to Lewis, who admitted to skip scanning at the self-checkout, according to an arrest affidavit. Lewis reportedly told officers that his friends told him they had stolen from stores using the same method and thought he would try it. The affidavit said Lewis had previously done this at the same store. Source: Winter Haven Police Department “We sit around talking, 'Hey I did this.' Let me try and see what I can get away with," Lewis said on body-worn camera video, speaking to a Winter Haven police officer. “I did something dumb today and I understand it.” The affidavit said that Lewis stole a large pack of light bulbs, bacon and frozen butterfly shrimp, which totaled $37.45. “Unfortunately, it’s turning our profession into a sad situation," said James Barker, a retired Polk County teacher. "More and more people are doing just stupid things without any regard to the consequences not only for themselves but the reputation of our profession.” Barker said he hopes Lewis gets the full consequences of the law. “He’s the principal of the school and now he’s been caught doing this, so what example does he set for the kids?" he asked. Lewis was arrested and booked into the Polk County Jail on a petit theft charge. He declined to comment when reached by phone by News Channel 8. According to a social media post, Lewis became the principal at Bok Tower North in August 2024. "Anybody's capable of this," said John Hassard, an associate at Robson Forensic with decades of experience in loss prevention. He suggests people think twice before thinking they can get away with theft at self-checkout. "These successful rollouts of self-checkouts have included a lot of business intelligence systems behind them, a lot of algorithms, even seeing some artificial intelligence applied," he said. ...read more read less