Radio Shack Clerks Lock Down Habitual Thief

A 27-year-old Milwaukee man is facing some serious charges after a couple of Wauwatosa store clerks caught and held him in yet another episode in his busy career.

Miguel Antonio Smith was charged Saturday in Milwaukee County Circuit Court with retail theft, bail jumping and habitual criminality.

According to police reports:

At 6:51 p.m. Thursday, Smith tried to leave Radio Shack, 6407 W. North Ave., with a camcorder set stuffed in his backpack.

A clerk had noticed that the camera, cord and SD card, being sold as a package, were missing from their counter display, and he asked his fellow employee if he knew where it was.

That clerk suspected it had been stolen and that the thief was one of two customers still in the store.

He announced loudly that he was going to the back to review the surveillance cameras, and just then Smith started to walk quickly for the door. The clerks stopped him and pulled him back inside, found the goods in his backpack, then locked him in until police arrived.

The clerks told police that Smith did not – somewhat surprisingly, given his resume – resist his detention, but asked repeatedly to be set free and whined that he was "going to go to jail" if they held him for police.

They declined his requests.

officers determined that not only the camcorder set but a number of other items in Smith's backpack were stolen.

Smith’s adult conviction record began in 2003 with criminal damage to property and resisting arrest; continued in 2004 with possession of marijuana; in 2008, retail theft; in 2009, felony theft of a firearm, then retail theft and resisting an officer, then resisting an officer again; in 2010, retail theft again; and in March, another count of retail theft.

Because the March case was still open, Smith was under strict orders not to break the law – hence the bail jumping charge.

Because he can't seem to get the message, the habitual criminality rider will, in all likelihood, result in his own predicted outcome – "going to go to jail."