Felony Robbery of…Deodorant
February 13 – Ventura County
The drugstore shopping trip of Peter Martinez, 38, of Fillmore, Ca., was cut short on the evening of Friday, February 10th when he was approached by the store’s loss prevention officer who suspected Martinez had filled a personal plastic shopping bag with no less than seven purloined deodorant product offerings.
According to Ventura County Sheriff Media Relations Officer Sergeant Kevin Vaden, the Rite-Aide employee had observed Martinez place personal hygiene items into his bag after he had already checked out at the cash register and paid for other merchandise. When the store employee confronted Martinez just outside the store entrance and identified himself as a loss prevention officer “the suspect resisted all attempts to detain him”, Sgt. Vaden reported to the media, “and a fight broke out.”
Resisting the rightful detention of the store employee acting upon probable cause that a crime had been committed “raised the stakes from misdemeanor shoplifting to the level of felony robbery”, said Sgt. Vaden. The struggle with Martinez was observed by another store employee, who along with a store customer, joined in the fracas to help subdue Martinez.
During the struggle, other store employees called 911 Emergency, and within minutes patrol units arrived on scene to find Martinez pinned to the floor by the three. The two store employees suffered minor injuries in the battle, while the customer was not injured. Martinez was immediately taken into custody and booked into Ventura County Jail on charges related to robbery, with bail set at $120,000.
Photo: courtesy Rite-Aid Drugstores; Ventura County Sheriff
Read More:
vcstar.com: Deodorant theft, fight lead to robbery charge, police say
