Police Blotter: Shoplifters Hit a Number of Area Stores

have been busy the past 10 days dealing with shoplifting reports coming from a variety of city businesses:

• A security agent at called police at 1:10 p.m. Nov. 18 to report a shoplifter. The agent said the 35-year-old unemployed Akron man selected numerous items and stuffed them into his backpack. He left the store without paying and was stopped by security. After being read his rights by police, the man admitted to the theft of 29 clothing items with a combined value of $168. He was released with a summons to appear in Akron Municipal Court on a misdemeanor theft charge. The man then said he was diabetic and felt a diabetic reaction starting. Police called medics to transport the man to Akron General Health & Wellness Center in Montrose.

• A security agent at called police at 2:21 p.m. Nov. 18 to report that a 68-year-old Akron woman had been seen concealing an item in her purse while in the produce department. The agent then watched as the woman went through the store selecting more items and concealing them in her coat and purse. She purchased items she had placed in her cart, but left the store without paying for 15 concealed items with a combined value of $47.85. The security agent stopped the woman as she left the store and escorted her to the office. She was arrested and issued a summons to face a misdemeanor theft charge in Akron Municipal Court. She is now “banned permanently from all Marc’s properties.”

• An assistant manager at at reported Nov. 19 that sometime between 5 p.m. and 6 p.m. that day, 40 merino wool V-neck sweaters with a combined value of $1,596 were taken from a display at the front of the store without being paid for. None of the store employees saw the sweaters being taken and police have no suspects.

• A security agent called police at 1:54 p.m. Nov. 21 to report he had watched as a woman hid 13 DVDs valued at $265 inside her jacket and pants pockets. The woman left the store without paying for the items and was stopped in the parking lot by the agent, who then called police. The DVDs were recovered and the woman, a 30-year-old Fairlawn resident, was arrested, processed at the scene and issued a court summons for theft, a misdemeanor.

• A loss prevention officer called police at 8:25 p.m. Nov. 22 to report a shoplifter in custody. The officer said he watched a woman select several items and enter the fitting room. A short time later she exited the fitting room with only one item. Another loss prevention officer checked the fitting room to see if the items were inside, but they were not. The Akron woman, 18, was stopped as she entered from Macy’s and escorted to the security office. The suspected stolen items – six pieces of clothing with a combined value of $196 – were located under the woman’s clothes she wore into the store. She was placed under arrest and released with a summons to appear in Akron Municipal Court on a charge of theft, a misdemeanor.