Cantonment Man Pleads Not Guilty To Pensacola Construction Site Grand Theft

August 31, 2026


A Cantonment man was arrested after allegedly stealing commercial light fixtures from a downtown Pensacola construction site.

Joseph Wade Walling, 52, of Twilight Drive, was charged with felony grand theft from a posted construction site.

According to an arrest report from the Pensacola Police Department, officers responded to the parking lot at 33 East Gregory Street regarding a theft reported across the street at a construction site located at 98 North Jefferson Street.

A supervisor on the site told police that two LED vapor-tight light fixtures—valued at approximately $120 each, for a total of $240—were discovered missing from the building’s seventh floor. Suspecting Walling, an employee at the site, the supervisor walked across the street to the parking lot, where he reported seeing the missing fixtures inside Walling’s white 2005 Acura sedan.

After being detained and read his rights, Walling told officers he found the fixtures sitting outside near a concrete barrier and assumed someone had left them behind. Walling stated he placed them in his car for safekeeping so they would not be stolen and planned to notify someone at the end of the workday, adding that he had not been on the seventh floor that day.

Police recovered the light fixtures from Walling’s vehicle and returned them to the supervisor.

Walling was booked into the Escambia County Jail and later released on a $2,500 bond. Court records show he has entered a not guilty plea and is scheduled to return to court in mid-September.

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Written by William Reynolds · Filed Under FRONT TOP