A Maryland police officer has been suspended after being accused of stealing a number of items from his part-time job.
The Washington Post reports that Jose A. Barahona was charged with several offenses after Montgomery County Police officials were notified that he was stealing condoms and oatmeal from his part-time job at Wal-Mart.
The investigation of Barahona began in February, when a Walmart loss prevention employee, who suspected that Barahona was stealing, contacted Montgomery County Police, according to court records. Sgt. Robert Rollins went to the store, spoke with the employee and watched surveillance video. He recognized his colleague on the video, according to court filings.
Robbins in the filings said he saw Barahona walking through the store at 10:35 p.m. on Feb. 2, a Friday, when he lifted the condoms, valued at $28.94, the Quaker oatmeal, valued at $4.33, and something that could not be identified from the video. Video showed the officer taking the items to his car and returning. Two hours later, surveillance cameras captured Barahona walking out with a Dyson DC33 vacuum cleaner, valued at $199, and putting it in his car’s back seat, the court records state.
“Barahona passed all working cash registers each time and failed to pay for any of the items,” Rollins wrote in court filings.
Barahona is also suspected of attempting to steal an Xbox as well as theft of an iPhone case.
Barahona faces three misdemeanor counts: theft scheme ranging from $100 to $1,500; theft in that same range; and theft under $100.
