Newton Police: Quick Change Artist, Cognac Stealer at Wegman's

Incidents, Monday, April 27

• Police responded to 30 Beethoven Ave. (the Zervas School) for a past unauthorized use of the school’s dumpster. The custodian said that sometime over the weekend, someone had dumped a few items of trash in their dumpster.
• Police responded to Wegmans at 200 Boylston St. for a past shoplifting. When police arrived, they spoke with the loss prevention officer, who stated that while conducting routine inventory in the morning, he noticed that a bottle of Hennessey Cognac was missing from the inventory. He played back the previous night’s tapes and noticed at about 9:20 p.m., a dark-skinned male took a bottle of Hennessey off the shelf and left the store without paying. The bottle was valued at $33. The male got into a grey Nissan Maxima.
• Police resonded to Wegman’s on Boylston Street for a report of past larceny. A protection specialist and loss prevention agent met with police. They stated that on the previous evening, between 3:47 p.m. and 4:16 p.m., a “quick change artist” was able to steal $50 from the store. The employee showed police a picture of a white male in his mid 50s wearing a black and gray fleece, black shirt and khaki pants. The man was seen getting out of a brown Cadillac DeVille near Brio restaurant before coming in. He made his way to the coffee stand in the store, and ordered coffee, producing a $50 bill for payment. The employee said that after the transaction was made, the male stated his change was incorrect and proceeded to confuse the party working the coffee stand into giving him more money. She said the male party tried to do this at a register, and also at the guest service desk. He ended up leaving with an extra $50. Three unidentified parties were seen with the suspect in the store. One was a black male with a black baseball hat, black shirt, khaki pants and black shoes. Another was a black female with a black shirt, black pants, black jacket and white handbag. The third was a white female with a black North Face fleece and black pants.