By ZEINAB NAJM
Sunday Times Newspapers
ALLEN PARK — Police were dispatched to Home Deport, 3163 Fairlane Drive, Sept. 10 on a report of retail fraud that had occurred involving a Ryobi 40V brushless 21-inch snowblower and an 18V cordless string trimmer and blower combo kit. The items were worth $549 and $99, respectively.
Responding officers were advised by dispatch that a man had stolen the items before fleeing in an older model black Oldsmobile silhouette minivan toward Oakwood Boulevard. Police spoke with the Home Depot asset protection reporting party who was working routine surveillance and saw the suspect enter the store through the returns door.
The man, described as Hispanic and wearing a white shirt, black hat and blue jeans walked a lap around the store before returning to the front of the store and retrieving a shopping cart.
According to the report, the man went to another aisle with the shipping cart where he selected the trimmer and blower combo, placing it on the bottom of the cart. The reporting party was alerted by another employee who the man was a repeat shoplifter.
The man then was seen placing the snowblower into the cart. He exited the store through the returns door passing all possible points of purchase without making any attempt to pay for the items inside his shopping cart.
The reporting party approached the man in the store’s vestibule and identified himself, then the man fled the store in the minivan that was waiting in front of the store. No license plate was obtained.
Police were told that the store has an identity on the suspect, but would not disclose it pending investigation.