Surveillance Tape Shows Man Who "Forgot" Case Of Soda Is A Thief And A Liar!
Our apologies to the Brooklyn, Ohio police department. New security camera footage released by the Brooklyn police department shows that the man who claimed he "forgot" the case of pop under his shopping cart actually grabbed it on his way out of the store! Now the man admits that he lied to reporters.
Brooklyn police gave NewsChannel5 surveillance video of Sturgis at the Giant Eagle the day of his arrest.Oh, shoplifter guy. Why did you lie to the media? The truth will always come out. The Consumerist apologizes to the Brooklyn, Ohio police department for teasing them and hopes we can remain friends. Congratulations on preventing pop theft in your area.Police said Sturgis is shown with his stepson, who was bagging the groceries at the checkout line.
But the video shows nothing beneath the cart. Sturgis paid for the groceries in the cart, but police said as he left the store, he stopped at the pop display in the vestibule, loading his cart with Pepsi.
He then left without paying for the new additions to his cart, police said.
Brooklyn Chief Mark Tenaglia said that security video shows Sturgis using a self-checkout with no items on the bottom of his cart.
Tenaglia said a second video camera shows Sturgis loading six 12-packs of Pepsi into his cart before he exited the store. The total value of the soda was $21.54 with tax.
Sturgis was arrested and charged with petty theft.
He told NewsChannel5, "It was a total lie. I did try to steal the Pepsi at Giant Eagle." Sturgis also said that he plans to plead guilty at his arraignment.
Surveillance Shows Man Taking Pop After Store Check-Out [NewsChannel5]
UPDATE: Consumerist has sent the following email to the Brooklyn, Ohio police department.
Dear Chief Tenaglia,We picked up the story about the pop thief and thought it had been more thoroughly vetted by the news station that sent it to us. In retrospect, I feel my teasing was pretty mean and I hope the Brooklyn police department will accept my apology.
Stopping crime is awesome. Keep up the good work.
-Meg
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Comments:
Wal-mart shouldn't have left the soda in a place where it could tempt someone to steal it!
/blame the victim
I think all the commenters yesterday who claimed the arresting police officer should be fired owe him/her a public apology in this comments section.
Idiot.
Dumbass. You can get away with 1 case, but 6? Thats just greedy...
@NightSteel: Who said anything about this taking place at a Wal-Mart? Read the article, it's in the first sentence of the quote, for crying out loud.
/RTFA
(Yes, I realized it wasn't Wal-mart about two seconds after I hit submit. The guy sounds like a future Wal-mart shopper though, doesn't he?)
Why steal soda?
@scoosdad: What can I say? I was in such a rush to blame the victim, my better sense took leave of me. *hangs head in shame*
I fuckin knew it! I so wanted to blame the guy the other day, but he actually spent $150 on groceries, so I figured why would he jack a case of soda, and I held back my urge to blame his ass. Should've listened to my gut.
This is common on the Consumerist...an article posted in which we hear only one side of the story.
I'm certainly surprised by the actual facts in this case, but in many other articles, I have the feeling that we don't have all the information.
Kudos to Meg however for publishing this followup and an apology to the police.
WAY TO BLAME THE VICTIM CONSUMERIST! I'M NEVER READING AGAIN. HARUMPH.
heheh
Well, Mr. Policeman, I apologize for making disparaging remarks about you earlier. Thanks for doing your job.
@InfiniTrent: I agree - particularly people who insisted he be sued, fired, or, in one case "shot out of a cannon".
Ironically, the victim initially WAS blamed here - the victim was the store!
This goes to prove that people who scream at people who "blame" the "victim" should remember there are three sides to every story. The one parties, the other parties, and the truth.
@InfiniTrent: I'd like to see that as well, but chances are nobody remembers today. I mean, c'mon, that was yesterday.
@InfiniTrent: Not necessarily. Those comments were believed accurate by the posters given the information that was available. It's not the posters' fault that they were lied to, thanks to this guy's lack of morals.
Similiarly, those comments that state that prosecuting someone over a mistake remain true because those posters, too, believed that this was a mistake, not a deliberate crime.
However, given past transgressions by this PD (as someone pointed out, wasn't this where a past story took place as well?), I'm not so sure I'd want to be "friends".
Who steals soda? Now premium beer, that's a different story
I think all the commenters yesterday who claimed the arresting police officer should be fired owe him/her a public apology in this comments section.
Absolutely agreed. This is one of those cases where the truth needs to be heard just as widely as the original (falsified) story.
I hope the internet didn't do what it often does, which is call the police department like a bunch of children and harass them. I've read of this being done in some cases (which, when justified, let to possitive results such as officers who assault children being suspended w/o pay)...but because so many are quick to blame everyone for everything I hope this police department didn't get calls from angry interneters.
Oh and to piss the PC people off, QuickTime Player FTW.
Sometimes stores just make it so tempting to steal with they way the setup merchandise. Why place items by the exit where patrons have already paid for their items? Is a 3/$1.00 deal on Hershey bars really going to get them to turn around and go thru the checkout process again?
Also, so many stores have tables of merch setup OUTSIDE the store, with apparantly nobody monitoring said table. Most of the time it is junk nobody would really want, but still, klepto's dream.
Oh snap!
@ClayS: And yet there have been many stories when company responses are later posted, once they arrive. Many companies also won't respond to requests for comment or in any other way, which is why they end up here.
do you know how we could stop this from happening again? maybe the walmart people should check receipts before people leave the stores. then they would be able to see right away that people take stuff even after they pay for them.
waaaaaaaaaaaait a minute!!
EDIT 1: I need to research this. Apparently, this happens already, but people claim it to be BS. I will do research, no one say anything.
EDIT 2: As you can tell, there's no such thing as edits. still, for all the slow people, this is sarcasm and irony at its best.
@Buran: "Not necessarily. Those comments were believed accurate by the posters given the information that was available. It's not the posters' fault that they were lied to, thanks to this guy's lack of morals."
If you were accused of some crime, and everyone calls you to be jailed, or executed, or worse, and then it comes out that the accusation is all a lie, you certainly would deserve an apology.
I realize they were using the information available at the time, but we should be more restrained in our judgments, realizing that with gatekeepers like the police and the media in place, we might not be getting the whole story initially.
Three dollars and fifty nine cents for a 12 pack is not a really good deal, I can buy if for $2.50.
@Buran: Perhaps the real issue is rushing to judgement of who's wrong and who's right when there's a perfectly capable legal system designed to do just that.
And the arbitration clauses that bypasses that system. /snort
I'm going to be linking this post in response to every "waah waah don't blame the victim!" post I see, methinks.
@InfiniTrent: Oh, those who actually did nothing wrong deserve it -- from the party who misrepresented the situation. The commenters couldn't have done anything other than use the information they were given.
That said, who's the one who tried to mislead everyone?
The man. HE is the one who needs to apologize.
Wow, this guy definitely needs to be prosecuted. Kinda reminds me of the (recent) story of the girl that made an anti-immigration sign and claimed she was bullied and her life was threatened. Turned out that she made the scratches on herself (caught on school cameras) and lied to the media.
that was certainly an unexpected twist
So he is a jerk for bringing way too much stuff through a self checkout lane and a thief.
{facepalm.jpg}
Why do stores still insist on putting merchandise like this on the outside portion of the store past the registers? It is confusing and prone to shoplifting. Maybe Giant Eagle will cease putting product in the doorway now.
The guy who lied and got a ton of media attention is a total moron. He could have had a petty theft charge and little or no publicity about the fact that he is a stupid petty thief. Now he has a petty theft charge AND the whole world knows he is an idiot.
To: Brooklyn PD
Subject: The recent storm of undeserved abuse
I didn't say anything before but I sure was thinking it. My apologies for that. But in the words of dear departed dad, "I'm sure you did something else to deserve it."
@Buran: Of course the guy needs to apologize. However, we've seen multiple times on this site where one side of the story is shown and everyone jumps to a judgment -- then later the other side replies and suddenly it's not so clear what actually happened.
Especially when it comes to something as seemingly ludicrous as a guy being jailed for forgetting a case of soda. As hard as it may be for many to believe we are, for the most part, rational people. If something seems really ludicrous, and you're obviously only getting one side of the story, then it's pertinent to hold back judgment some until more information comes out. Too often, we fail to do that.
@Erwos: I'm not justifying theft, I'm just saying if somebody is inclined to steal, why make it that much easier for them?
@Buran: I personally feel like readers (including me) have a little responsibility to be skeptical and look at the evidence. I at least am a little embarrassed that I rushed to judgement sided with the shoplifty guy. /shame
@discounteggroll: I didn't find it so unexpected. When I read the story, my initial thought was "I bet the guy really did try to steal it"
Well shit.
Clearly that soda(aka pop) being by the door with the cop outside was entrapment. :)
I hope this gets as much coverage as the original story.