A Philadelphia man has been arrested and charged with attempting to leave a supermarket with a cart filled with products in Hilltown Township.
Christopher Gardner, 39, was charged with retail theft in the third degree and receiving stolen property, and was remanded to Bucks County Jail after failing to post bail.
Hilltown Township Police Department responded to Giant Supermarket on Route 113 in Hilltown on July 15 about 10 p.m. for a report of retail theft earlier that day. Giant’s asset protection associate told police the store’s camera footage showed a male suspect, later identified as Gardner, reportedly exiting a vehicle that pulled into the parking lot at 3:50 p.m., walking into the store, grabbing a shopping cart and proceeding to the health and beauty sections. Gardner placed various items, including medication, snacks, and skin care products, in his cart, according to the criminal complaint.
At 4:15 p.m., a store employee approached Gardner as he was walking out of the store with the shopping cart, the complaint states. The employee asked him for a receipt, but Gardner reportedly let go of the cart and kept walking toward the parking lot. Camera footage showed Gardner entering a car and exiting the shopping center toward Route 113. When employees recovered the shopping cart, the items were valued at $1,064.53, according to the complaint.
Images of the suspect were distributed to other area departments, police said. On July 17, a Hilltown investigator reported that the man in the video was also a suspect in other retail thefts around Bucks County, according to the report. Working with loss prevention officers at various involved stores, officials identified the suspect as Gardner for the July 15 theft at Giant.
Gardner was arraigned Aug. 14 by Judge Terrence Hughes, who set bail at 10 percent of $50,000. His next court appearance is a preliminary hearing Sept. 5 in front of Magisterial District Judge Regina Armitage.
All suspects and defendants are innocent until proven
guilty. This story was compiled using police reports, court records and the
affidavit of probable cause.
