Crime & Safety

Cops: Man Bagged with Nearly $1,800 Worth of Stolen Items

Thomas Connor of Deerfield was arrested last month on theft charges; mom reportedly takes child, helps bail him out.

A local man will be in court next week after allegedly getting caught with stolen items from Walmart and Target last month.

Thomas J. Connor, 38, of Deerfield, was arrested at 12:48 p.m. on July 22, 2015, and charged with a felony theft count as well as two other theft charges and misuse of failure to display plates.

Editor’s note: This post was derived from information supplied by the Concord Police Department. It does not indicate a conviction. Click this link to find out how to get a name removed from a New Hampshire Patch police report.

Find out what's happening in Concordfor free with the latest updates from Patch.

According to police, an officer was sent to Walmart on Loudon Road for a report of a man who stole items from the store and was now possibly at Target.

A store employee told the officer that he was tipped off by a patron who was in the store earlier and thought a theft might have taken place in the garden center. The officer eyed video and reportedly saw a man leave the store with a full cart of merchandise along with a child seated in the cart. He then ran a check on a Massachusetts license plate on a Chevrolet SUV. Dispatch came back showing the plate belonging to a Lincoln MKX from 2006.

Find out what's happening in Concordfor free with the latest updates from Patch.

The officer headed to Target to see if he could find the vehicle but while leaving, he reportedly saw it in the Major Brands store parking lot.

“As I walked around the vehicle I could see that it was locked and that it contained unopened merchandise in the back seat/trunk area of the vehicle,” the officer alleged. “I was able to recognize a pots and pan set I saw on the video footage located within the vehicle. I saw on the front seat a NH plate. I ran this plate which came back to a silver 2007 Chevy 1500 owned by Thomas Connor.”

The officer called for backup and waited. While waiting, he received a report that the suspect was back at Walmart and reportedly trying to leave with another shopping cart full of items. The officer headed over to the store and along with a store employee, was able to stop the man, later identified as Connor along with a child.

The officer spoke with Connor inside Walmart and he allegedly gave the officer the keys to his vehicle and signed a consent search form. Officers went back to the vehicle and allegedly found $1,798.43 worth of items from Walmart and Target.

While Connor was being held, his mother came to the city from Merrimack to take custody of his child and later, came up with $500 to bail him out, according to the report.

Connors is due in court on Aug. 24.

• Sign up for news alerts from local New Hampshire Patch sites.

Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.