Police Reports: In Heavy Heist, Man Tries to Run with Case of Whiskey

A 44-year-old Milwaukee man was arrested on suspicion of theft Sunday after he was caught near the scene of a liquor heist and identified as the suspect.

At 8:05 a.m., police were called to Sendik’s, 8616 W. North Ave., for a reported theft in progress, and on the way were told that the suspect had run out of the store with a large box of liquor and was headed east on the south side of North Avenue.

Officers found the store manager at 83rd and Jackson Park Boulevard, where he had followed the thief. He told officers the man had entered through an unlocked basement door and taken a case of Canadian Club whiskey, six 1.75-liter bottles.

Officers searching the area spotted the suspect and captured him in the driveway of a residence in the 8100 block of Jackson Park. They found the liquor abandoned behind a home in the 8400 block of North Avenue. It was returned to Sendik’s.

The suspect had an open case for retail theft and was taken to the County Jail.

In other recent incidents:

Saturday

At 8:40 p.m., a 48-year-old man known as a chronic alcoholic and liquor thief was identified yet again in a theft at the Pick ‘n Save store at 1717 N. Mayfair Rd. and was arrested at his apartment in the 11900 block of Diane Dr. – in fact, officers were waiting for him. Pick ‘n Save managers know the suspect on sight and by his first name, having seen him arrested there five times before. His picture is posted in multiple spots around the store with the notice that police should be called if he is seen inside, as he is banned from the premises. Nevertheless, he was seen again leaving the liquor aisle and he refused to stop, pushing an employee out of his way to escape. He was taken to the County Jail as a bail jumper.

 At 6:16 p.m., a 31-year-old Milwaukee woman was arrested at Mayfair Mall on suspicion of defrauding an innkeeper for leaving Applebee’s restaurant without paying her bill. The woman told officers it was all a mistake and she was going to her car for her wallet with every intention of returning to pay. But the restaurant manager arrived to tell police that the woman was known on sight to be a regular defrauder and she was watched the whole time. When the woman could produce no cash and could locate no person who could bring her any, she was arrested, even though she protested, “But it was only $11!”

Police went to a home in the 2400 block of North 63rd Street to ask the resident for a report after Milwaukee police informed them they had arrested a suspect with property they believed stolen from the homeowner’s car. Indeed, the resident had been the victim of a smash and grab from his car on Thursday, in which his car window was broken and some change and one company check had been taken. The check was recovered from a 39-year-old suspect who was fleeing in a stolen car.

Friday

At 1:35 p.m., a 25-year-old Milwaukee man was arrested for theft at Macy’s at Mayfair Mall after he was seen hiding shirts and socks worth $178 in his backpack and trying to leave the store.

Last Thursday

At 8:17 p.m., a Milwaukee woman reported that while she was at Cardinal Fitness, 2885 N. Mayfair Rd., someone smashed a window in her car and stole her purse.

A resident of the 2400 block of North 63rd Street reported that between 7 and 9 p.m. Wednesday someone smashed a rear side window in his station wagon, parked beside his garage, and stole his company laptop computer and bag, a Bluetooth headset, a Christmas card containing a gift card, and a large envelope filled with personal papers.

Dec. 12

At 4:30 p.m., a 37-year-old Milwaukee man was arrested for possession of narcotics with intent to deliver after police were called by an alert citizen about a suspected drug deal going down. An employee on break at Puhl’s True Value Hardware, 1525 N. 68th St., said she saw a car pull in and back into a space along the fence on the far side of the parking lot. The lone driver sat there for about five minutes before a pickup truck pulled in and parked next to it. The first man got out and joined the second in the cab of the truck, she said, then got out and retrieved a bag from his car. She decided it looked like a drug deal, and she was right. Police found that one of the men had a variety of narcotics, in the bag and in his car, including Oxycodone and Suboxone, and a large amount of cash. The other suspect was interviewed but not arrested because no drugs were found on his person or in his vehicle.

At 1:38 p.m., a man recognized from multiple prior thefts made off with four bottles of liquor from CVS Pharmacy, 7520 Blue Mound Rd. A manager said he saw the man leaving the liquor aisle with his coat bulging and recognized him from eight or nine other liquor thefts. He told the suspect to stop but he took off for the door and was last seen running east on Wellaur Drive. He is described a black, 6-feet-1 or 2 inches, 190 pounds, 38 to 40 years old, with black hair and a mustache. He was wearing a black winter coat, black pants and a black knit hat with a white stripe.

At 12:45 p.m., a Milwaukee man reported that he was robbed of his iPhone 5 while he waited for a bus at North 62nd Street and West North Avenue, but police are treating the crime as a theft rather than a robbery because the suspect made no threat and the victim handed over his property voluntarily. He said he was talking to his mother on the phone when a stranger approached him. He quickly ended the conversation and put the phone in his pants pocket. The stranger asked him, “Hey, you need any weed?” and he said he doesn’t smoke weed and didn’t need any. The man then asked the victim if he knew anyone else who wanted any marijuana, and the victim said that none of his friends smoked it either. Then the stranger said, “Give me your phone so I can put my number in it, so you can call me for some weed.” The victim said he would put the number in himself, but the stranger said he needed to look at the keypad in order to remember his own number. The man handed him the phone, and he began to enter a number. The bus arrived and the victim asked for his phone back, whereupon the stranger said, “You don’t need it” and ran off north on 62nd. He was described as black, 18 to 21 years old, 5-feet-10-inches to 6-feet tall, 155 to 165 pounds, with dreadlocks almost to his shoulders. He was wearing a gray hooded sweatshirt, blue jeans with black shorts showing above the waistband, and blue shoes.

At 12:36 p.m., the manager of the Walgreens store at 6600 W. State St. reported that an unknown man had walked in, gone straight to the hat display rack near the doors, picked out a knit hat and turned around and left. She chased him outside and yelled at him to stop, but he took off running. She described him as white with a fair complexion, 6 feet tall, 160 to 170 pounds, with reddish-blond hair, wearing a black coat and gray pants.

At 9:41 a.m., a 21-year-old Wauwatosa man was arrested for possession of narcotics and three counts of bail jumping after an anonymous caller reported that he was late for a court hearing on drug charges and was at the moment so high she feared he was overdosed. A detective who had met with an assistant district attorney on the man’s other cases just a week before joined the patrol response, and when the reinforced squad arrived at the man’s apartment building 2400 block of North 111th St., they could hear a heated argument going on upstairs all the way from the lobby. They were let in to his apartment by his girlfriend, who said their infant daughter was also there. The suspect kept nodding off in mid-sentence, and when the detective asked him if he was under the influence of drugs and had any drugs not prescribed to him, as per conditions of his bail and probation, he turned and tried to run. However, the officer said, the suspect was so high he was running as if in slow motion, and all he had to do was walk along beside him. The suspect pulled a pill container out of his clothing and made as if to throw it – somewhere – but the officer stopped him. Inside there were a variety of pills including 20mg Oxycodone, 100mg morphine and 2mg Alprazolam. The suspect said that he had overslept for his court date not because he was high but because he had been kept up late after being arrested for retail theft at Walmart in Germantown – which, in fact, he had. He had three open drug cases and was on probation for others.

At 6:46 a.m., an employee of FSA Network, 4320 N. 124th St., called police to report that overnight someone had stolen the catalytic converters off two large box trucks and attempted to take a third. Police reviewed security video and saw an SUV enter the lot at 10:51 p.m. Tuesday and park next to one of the trucks, then move to the other two. The stolen converters were unbolted; the third was welded to truck and was left. The report does not describe any suspects, but it said the SUV appeared to be the same one seen in earlier thefts of truck converters in the area. Wauwatosa police checked with other trucking firms and learned that Lakeland International, 11000 W. Silver Spring Dr. in Milwaukee, had also lost three converters that night about the same time.

Dec. 11

At 7:39 p.m., two Milwaukee boys, 13 and 15 years old, were arrested for retail theft at Boston Store in Mayfair Mall after each was seen hiding a pair of jeans in their backpacks and trying to leave the store.

A resident of the 2300 block of Lefeber Avenue reported that overnight someone had entered his unlocked car and stolen two packs of cigarettes and his GPS unit.

Residents of a home in the 10700 block of West Keefe Avenue reported that between 2 and 4 p.m. someone broke in and stole two TV sets and some cash. A man who lives in the home with his mother said they were both out during the afternoon and when he returned, he found the service door between the garage and the lower floor of the home open, although no outside doors were open or unlocked. He found the televisions missing, ripped from the walls, and what looked like pry marks on his locked bedroom door. The family suspects a Milwaukee man who lived with them for a time and who is the only person besides themselves who knows the numeric code to open the overhead garage door.

At 1:56 p.m., a 23-year-old Wauwatosa man was arrested for theft at Boston Store after he was seen opening a package of three Polo tank-top shirts and hiding them in a shopping bag. He was detained as he left the store and held for police, ticketed and banned from the mall.

Dec. 10

At 10:49 p.m., two guests at the Radisson Hotel, 2303 N. Mayfair Rd., reported seeing two men in the parking structure who had just broken into a vehicle and then fled. The said they saw one of the men acting suspiciously near an SUV. He jumped into a waiting “clean” VW Beetle with another man at the wheel and they sped out of the lot. They walked over and saw that a window had been smashed out of the SUV. The owner was located and he found that he was missing a fly-fishing rod. Descriptions of the suspects were not sufficiently detailed to identify them.

At 4:56 p.m., a 38-year-old Wind Lake woman was arrested for theft and disorderly conduct at Boston Store after she tried to leave the store with a cart loaded with merchandise and then bit a store security manager after she was detained. She had $560 worth of crystal, other glassware and other tableware in the cart and tried twice to leave with it without paying, the first time retreating rapidly back into the store. The woman was highly intoxicated and fought with both store and police officers, and after being handcuffed continued to upbraid everyone around her. As she was being taken out of the store for booking, she kicked a display, knocking over one of four mannequins and breaking off its head. At that, the bitten security guard lost his temper and began to yell at the woman. Police returned to take his statement on the loss of the mannequin, which he valued at $2,000. Police tried to obtain a blood-alcohol breath sample from the suspect but, although she agreed, she could not or would not provide an adequate sample.

At 3:08 p.m., a 26-year-old Chicago woman and a 25-year-old Brookfield man were arrested for theft at Macy’s in Mayfair Mall after they tried to leave the store with a shopping bag full of clothing items worth $182.