Police Reports: Suspect Held in Theft from Bakery

The owners of Rocket Baby Bakery, 6822 W. North Ave., on Thursday reported a theft of cash from the business, thought to have occurred at around 12:30 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 11.

The owners told police the bakery closed as usual at noon that day, and while they were conducting a staff meeting afterward, one employee was counting out the morning’s cash receipts on the counter. Later, the deposit slip did not match the cash by a considerable margin.

The owners did not suspect the trusted employee who had been doing the counting but believed that another employee, a recent hire, might have distracted her and pocketed the money. That employee had not showed up for work since, they said, which they found suspicious.

Police did a background check and found the suspect, a 31-year-old Wauwatosa man, was wanted on a felony warrant and had been arrested for retail theft on Nov. 7 at Mayfair Mall.

Wauwatosa police could not locate the suspect at his residence but learned from his probation officer that he had turned himself in on the felony warrant on Thursday and was in custody. He was being held for questioning on both the Mayfair and Rocket Baby incidents.

In other recent incidents:

Sunday

At 3:26 p.m., a Wauwatosa man reported that his bicycle had been stolen while he made a brief stop at the Walgreen’s at 2656 Wauwatosa Ave. He told police he leaned his bike against a garbage can while he stepped in to buy some cigarettes, and though he was inside for no more than two or three minutes, the bike was gone when he came out. Police reviewed video footage and saw a man riding away on the bike, described as an unknown black male, 20 to 30 years old, 5-feet-11 to 6-feet tall, weighing 160 to 180 pounds, dark complexion, wearing a red hat, a black hooded sweatshirt and black pants.

At 9:13 a.m., a city worker at Hart Park reported vandalism by graffiti around the Muellner Building and a break-in to the bathroom/storage room at the Rotary Performance Pavilion, where the hasp holding the padlock to the door had been bashed and pried off. Nothing of value appeared to be missing from the room. Graffiti was found on three light poles near the tennis courts and on the gate on the driveway to the maintenance area in the rear of the Muellner Building. The cost to repair damage and paint over the graffiti was estimated at $500.

Saturday

A resident of an apartment building in the 2400 block of North 111th Street reported that earlier in the week someone had stolen a GPS unit from her car while it was parked in the common lot. She said she always locks the car, but there was no sign of forced entry.

A resident of the 6800 block of Cedar Street reported that his beagle-mix dog had been attacked in his back yard by a larger dog running loose with a broken harness. He said his dog was tied out in the yard on a cable when he heard barking and saw a tan dog he estimated at 60 to 70 pounds on top of his dog and worrying it. He ran at the dogs, yelling, and the attacking dog ran off in the direction of North 68th Street. Moments later, he said, an unknown man ran through his back yard, called out, “Sorry!” and continued to run after the loose dog. He described the man as white, 25 to 30 years old, 5-feet-10-inches to 6-feet tall, 180 to 200 pounds, wearing a red and black flannel shirt and tan pants at the time. The victim’s dog was bitten in the neck and ear and required surgery and quarantine.

At 3:04 p.m., a 19-year-old woman and a 16-year-old girl, both of Milwaukee, were arrested on suspicion of theft at the Buckle store in Mayfair Mall after both were found to have pairs of jeans hidden in foil-lined bags inside their purses. The younger suspect also had jewelry from Forever 21 and a pink shirt from Victoria’s Secret in her bag. In all the merchandise recovered was valued at just over $400 retail.

Friday

At 8:27 p.m., police were called to the Hollister store in Mayfair Mall for a disturbance and possible retail theft, and in the end three Milwaukee women, two of them 22 and one 23 years old, were arrested on a variety of outstanding warrants. One of the women had grown boisterous when she tried to make a return without a receipt and was denied. She began to curse that she was being wrongly accused of theft, and at one point threatened to slap the clerk, police were told. She was arrested and was given a breath test that showed she had a .148 blood alcohol concentration.

At 5:29 p.m., the manager at HoneyBaked Cafe, 817 N. Mayfair Rd., reported that a customer had tried to pay for a purchase with a counterfeit $100 bill. He said that when she handed him the bill, he knew instantly that it didn’t feel right. He examined it and found it was really a reprinted $5 bill. The woman waited at the store for police and showed them four other $100 bills she had received along with the first one as winnings at Oneida Casino. They were all real. She paid for her purchase and was allowed to go, as police believed she was unaware she had a phony bill.

At 2:46 p.m., a 25-year-old Milwaukee man was arrested on suspicion of theft and as a fugitive at Boston Store after store security recovered a $35 Polo hat he had stuffed down his pants in a fitting room before trying to leave the store. He had three warrants through the Menomonee Falls Police Department.

A New Berlin woman reported that she had been the victim of a pickpocket between noon and 12:45 p.m. while she was eating lunch at Panera Bread in Mayfair Mall. She said she had her purse hanging on her chair and some people sat down behind her but did not order food and left before she had finished eating. When she got up, she found her wallet open inside her purse and several credit cards gone. Before she could cancel the cards, she learned that a fraudulent purchase had already been made at the Apple Store in the mall. An Apple manager told police that without a receipt she could not identify the fraud because of the volume of sales.

At 8:02 a.m., a 36-year-old Milwaukee man was arrested on a Glendale warrant when he was questioned as a suspicious character at Wisconsin Lutheran College, 8800 Blue Mound Rd. Besides the warrant, Wauwatosa police learned that the suspect was wearing an electronic monitor on his ankle as a registered sex offender convicted of second-degree sexual assault. College officials said the suspect had come in the building and matched the description of a man suspected in a number of entries and thefts of laptop computers.

An 18-year-old Wauwatosa man was arrested on six outstanding warrants at Turning Point school, 9501 Watertown Plank Rd., where he is a student. Turning Point is an alternative high school program for students with problems that keep them from attending regular public schools. The young man was wanted for disorderly conduct, truancy, loitering on school property, two cases of possession of tobacco and one of possession of alcohol on school property.

Last Wednesday

A couple residing in the 8200 block of Brookside Place reported that between 7:30 a.m. and 3:15 p.m. someone broke into their home and stole electronics and jewelry. The husband returned home first to find the gate to the back yard open and then saw broken glass on their patio. One of the glass patio doors had been smashed and was open. The house had been rummaged through and a laptop computer, an iPod, silverware and most of his wife’s jewelry was missing, along with a pillowcase stolen off their bed to carry the goods away.  

Nov. 13

Three 17-year-old Wauwatosa East High School students, a boy and two girls, were cited for habitual truancy. The boy and one of the girls had been cited before, and the other girl has been warned four times since September.