Here’s a very bad shoplifting strategy.
According to the Omaha World-Herald, a Nebraska man completed a job application on Monday at a Scheels sporting goods store in Omaha, and proceeded to steal a $40 bottle of St. James of London cologne from the store.
It took about five minutes Monday for store detectives to determine the name, address and phone number of the man they say walked out of the Scheels sporting goods store at Village Pointe without paying for a $40 bottle of cologne.
The loss prevention manager told police that while reviewing surveillance video of the incident, he noticed the man had completed a job application. The man’s name, age, phone and place of residence matched information police had gathered during numerous earlier arrests. A still photo from the video also matched the 20-year-old’s mug shot.
If you’re going to be dumb enough to steal something, at least don’t do it a place you just gave your personal information.
Oh, but it gets worse.
While police were in the process of trying to locate the man, he did the job for them. Just four hours after shoplifting, the man returned to the store for a job interview. A Scheels employee alerted the police of his hard-to-believe return to the store, and they showed up to arrest him on suspicion of shoplifting.
Police searched the car and found the cologne bottle “in plain view,” and also found a pipe and a large bong.
Someone from Scheels called police about 4:15 p.m. to say that the man was back. Officers arrived and arrested him on suspicion of shoplifting and then searched the car he was driving. They found the bottle of cologne in plain view and a small, clear pipe inside a black zipper container in the center console. They then cited him on suspicion of possession of drug paraphernalia.
A 22-year-old who was in the front passenger seat of the car also was cited on suspicion of possessing drug paraphernalia. Police spotted a large marijuana bong in the seat where that man had been sitting after the officers asked him to step out of the vehicle. He told them that the bong was his.
Even if the man hadn’t filled out a job application or returned for a job interview, police would’ve likely found him without much trouble. The man was so slow to leave the store and drive away in his father’s Toyota after shoplifting, that a Scheels employee was able to write down the license plate number.
We’ll assume he won’t be getting that job at Scheels anytime soon either.
