They Take the Whole Cart and Kaboodle – But Get Caught

Perhaps you knew that it is a statutory crime to, specifically and separately from simple theft, "remove a shopping cart."

A Brookfield police captain didn't, but he does now, and so do two suspects in a considerably more serious case of felony theft of a whole lot of pants.

At about 7 p.m. April 2, a man and a woman entered the Sears store at Brookfield Square, got a shopping cart and headed for the men's apparel section. There, with no regard to size or price, they stuffed 63 pairs of mostly Levi's jeans and some cargo pants into the cart and headed for the door.

Before store security could stop them, they wheeled it out and up to a nearby Pontiac Montana van with no front plate. They opened the side door, tilted the loaded cart, pushed the whole thing inside and took off.

A short while later, a Waukesha County Sheriff's deputy spotted the van heading east on Interstate 94 and followed. He radioed ahead when the van exited into West Allis, and local police moved to cut the couple off.

They were stopped at South 60th and Grant streets in West Allis, and officers found the cartload of jeans – $3,169.82 worth – intact in the back.

The 46-year-old man and 42-year-old woman, both from Milwaukee, were arrested on state charges of felony theft – and removing a shopping cart.

The man admitted he'd stolen the jeans to sell because he was unemployed and behind on his mortgage.

He was also slapped with possession of stolen property when police found a license plate in his van and learned that it, and the mounted rear plate, were stolen. He said a friend had stolen the plates for him after his were confiscated by the Milwaukee police.

He didn't think he ought to drive around with no plates at all, he said.