GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ) – Green Bay Police say busting cases of retail theft is a priority.
And officers are going the extra mile to prove it.
A 27 year old resident of Bellevue was apprehended on a bus travelling out of the city of Green Bay on I-43.
The man had stolen a pair of sunglasses from the Shopko on East Mason Street.
The Green Bay Police Department requested the assistance of the Brown County Sheriff’s Office to perform a traffic stop on the bus.
The suspect Jonathan Soto was on the bus with the sunglasses located on top of his head.
The shades were later returned to Shopko.
The thief, not so lucky.
Soto was issued a $376 citation for Retail Theft / 1st offense and now has a criminal record.
He was taken into custody and transported to the Green Bay Police Department where he was photographed and fingerprinted. He was then released with a citation/court appearance scheduled in May 2017.
“In this case, a stolen $20 pair of sunglasses cost Mr. Soto to forfeit the bus ticket he purchased, lost time, and missed his ride from his end destination,” Green Bay police chief Andrew Smith said in a news release.
“I hope this serves as an example for others that if anyone comes to Green Bay to commit a crime, we are prepared to scour the earth to bring you to justice.”
The Green Bay Police Dept. has been working on combating retail theft, even holding a “summit” for businesses last month.
So far this year, police say they’ve had 144 reports of retail theft, accounting for 38 percent of thefts in the city. There have been nine in the past week and 35 in the past 30 days.
