Live Bedbugs Released in Pennsylvania Walmart

State police are seeking the culprit
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Jan 6, 2020 2:38 AM CST
Live Bedbugs Released in Pennsylvania Walmart
A bedbug is displayed at the Smithsonian Museum in Washington.   (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster, File)

Walmart managers may not be sleeping tight tonight: Somebody released live bedbugs in a Pennsylvania store and police are now investigating. State police say they were contacted by the manager of the Edinboro store Thursday after staff members found a pill bottle in a boy's jacket with live bedbugs inside, the Erie Times-News reports. Another bottle, this one with dead bugs inside, was found on the floor in the men's department near the belts, police say. Health safety company Ecolab confirmed that the insects were bedbugs. An Ecolab employee inspecting the store Friday found bedbugs crawling around the men's changing rooms.

"We take this seriously and are looking into this," a Walmart spokesperson tells CNN. "We are fully cooperating with law enforcement on their investigation." Police say they are looking for whoever released the bloodsucking insects in the store. "A third-party pest management service has visited the store and we are working with them to assess next steps," the Walmart spokesperson says. "In the meantime, we have blocked off the impacted area." (Last year, a courthouse was temporarily closed after bedbugs were seen falling from an attorney's clothing.)

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