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Wal-Mart 'Santa' pays off $106,000 in layaways at 2 Ohio stores

An anonymous donor paid off a total of nearly $70,000 for the layaway items at the Steelyard Commons store in Cleveland and about $36,000 for items in Lorain, Ohio.

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(AP Photo/Jae C. Hong, File)
A worker pushes shopping carts in front of a Wal-Mart store in La Habra, Calif. At two Wal-Mart stores in Ohio, this wee an anonymous donor paid off $106,000 worth of layaway items for shoppers.
  • By Staff Associated Press

| Cleveland

A man has paid off more than $106,000 in shoppers' layaways at two Wal-Mart stores in northeast Ohio.

WEWS-TV in Cleveland says the man told Wal-Mart employees that he liked to do something special on his birthday every year. They say he insisted on remaining anonymous.

The anonymous donor paid off a total of nearly $70,000 for the layaway items at the Steelyard Commons store in Cleveland and about $36,000 for items in Lorain. Items on layaway included toys, 70-inch televisions and even a pair of socks.

Tara Neal said she had paid $10 on a bed for her 3-year-old daughter at one of thestores when she was told Tuesday that the remaining balance of more than $80 was paid. She said it was "like Santa."

In Kansas City, a Secret Santa has been handing out $100 bills to strangers since 2007. 

This year, KSHB-TV reports that he traveled somewhere he’s never been: Ferguson, Missouri. He took the FBI, Missouri Highway Patrol and Ferguson police with him to the same places where police and protesters clashed one year ago.

The demonstrations and unrest occurred for more than 100 days after a white Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson shot and killed black 18-year-old Michael Brown.

Secret Santa is an anonymous Kansas City businessman who has given $100,000 to $120,000 each year since 2007 when the original Secret Santa, Larry Stewart, passed away.

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