Brett Allen Singer’s weekend shift at Wal-Mart began like any other.

He went to work at 11 p.m. Saturday and tended to his usual duties, including sorting coupons, checks and cash at the store. But when he took his scheduled meal break 2 1/2 hours later, something different happened.

Police say he took the money and ran.

An accounting associate at the Maysville Road Wal-Mart, Singer, 38, of Huntertown, is accused of stealing more than $100,000 from his employer, fleeing west and gambling with his newly acquired fortune.

Fort Wayne police reports and Allen County Superior Court records provided the following account of what happened.

Singer placed cash into boxes, put them in a shopping cart, which he wheeled outside the store at 10420 Maysville Road. He loaded the money into his gold 2002 Pontiac coupe and drove off.

It wasn’t until more than four hours later that store management noticed the cash and Singer were missing. They tallied the missing money at close to $136,000 – all in small bills. A store employee called Fort Wayne police just before 7 a.m. Sunday to report the theft.

But Singer was already on the run.

Fort Wayne police immediately entered Singer’s personal information into the National Crime Information Center, a computerized index. If Singer’s personal information were to be looked up by police elsewhere, authorities would know he was a wanted man.

"They had no idea where he was going or anything," said officer Michael Joyner, Fort Wayne police spokesman. "We find out now (that) apparently he had stopped and gambled all along the way."

The last of those stops was at Prairie Meadows Racetrack and Casino, in Altoona, Iowa, just off Interstate 80, nearly eight hours and close to 500 miles from the northeast-side Wal-Mart.

While playing a card game at that casino Monday afternoon, Singer apparently became upset.

"He was gambling on the floor and made some comments that if he had the ability he would harm a lot of people there," said Jessica Lown, a spokeswoman for the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation. "He was making the comments toward everyone around him."

That’s when he was arrested. Fort Wayne police received a call about 3:30 p.m. Monday that Singer was facing charges in another state.

Agent Don Smith, of the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation, wanted to know whether Fort Wayne police were interested in Singer. They were.

Singer agreed to let police search him and his car. Inside the car, investigators found boxes of cash amounting to more than $100,000.

At 3:44 p.m. Monday, Singer was booked into the Polk County Jail in Des Moines. He was being held without bail, pending his extradition to Indiana. Singer racked up additional charges in Iowa of receiving stolen property and harassment and was served with a theft warrant out of Johnson County.

He awaits a preliminary hearing May 7 in Polk County Court. In Allen County Superior Court, Singer faces a formal theft charge filed Tuesday.

habrams@jg.net