Belleville Store Owner Says Tequila Shoplifter Identified Herself As Police Employee

BELLEVILLE, NJ — A Belleville liquor store owner told police that a woman who allegedly identified herself as a local law enforcement employee shoplifted a $50 bottle of tequila from his store on New Year’s Eve 2015, according to documents released on Tuesday.

According to a police incident report posted by activist blog Random Notes On NJ Government, the owner of White Oak Liquors on Union Avenue said that a female customer approached the counter with a .750 ml bottle of Don Julio Anejo Tequila that was packed in a paper box around 2:40 p.m. on Dec. 31.

The store owner said that the woman – who allegedly claimed that she worked for the Belleville Police Department – asked for a replacement box. When the owner brought her another container, she paid with a credit card and left the store, the report states.

A short time after the patron left, the store owner allegedly noticed that a .750 ml bottle of Don Julio Anejo Tequila was missing from the shelves, the police report states.

The store owner told police that he then reviewed surveillance video which allegedly showed the woman place a bottle of tequila in her purse while checking out at the register. He provided the responding officers - which included two police sergeants - with a copy of the customer’s receipt that showed her credit card number, as well as a flash drive with the security footage.

The case has been turned over to the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office and a decision is pending, according to an Oct. 19 Belleville police memo.

“Authorities have not released the name of the alleged shoplifter nor have they confirmed whether or not she is a Belleville police officer,” the Random Notes On NJ Government blog stated Tuesday. “But the fact that two police sergeants were dispatched to a $50 shoplifting incident together with the absence of a criminal complaint ten months later suggest that this was not a run of the mill shoplifting investigation.”

Read the full blog post here.

The alleged incident isn’t the first time a person identifying themselves as a Belleville police officer has been accused of shoplifting in town, the blog stated.

In 2006, Belleville Police Officer Wanda Posada-Vallese, who was then known as Wanda Scheumeister (and later as Wanda Posada), was charged with allegedly shoplifting about $60 worth of mosquito repellent and lawn edging from a local K-Mart store where she was working while wearing her uniform, the blog states.

According to the complaint, Posada-Vallese pleaded guilty on Sept. 21, 2006 to an amended charge of loitering and paid $533 in fines and costs.

File Photo: Flickr Commons

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