Energy Drink Thieves Busted in Wauwatosa After Trying Stunt in Oak Creek

OAK CREEK — An alert loss prevention officer at the Oak Creek Meijer grocery store tipped off his colleagues in Wauwatosa, leading to the arrest of suspects in a 3-man energy drink burglary scheme.

According to their criminal complaint, Rojello Longoria, Richard Spiller, Sr. and his son Richard Spiller, Jr. were at the Oak Creek Meijer in Drexel Town Square in Oak Creek on Sept. 18, when they tried pushing a cart with more than $900 in 5-Hour Energy Drinks and 12-packs of Red Bull concealed in a shopping cart.

When the Oak Creek loss prevention officer stopped the three men just before the store's exit, they abandoned the energy drink-laden cart at the exit when their attempts to distract the loss prevention officer failed, the complaint stated.

When Oak Creek police reviewed the store footage of the incient, they recognized two of the men from around southeastern Wisconsin as retail theft suspects.

The Oak Creek loss prevention officer sent a bulletin to other stores in the area to be on the lookout for three suspects. Less than a half-hour after the Oak Creek incident, the three men were at it again - this time at the Wauwatosa Meijer, the complaint stated.

The Wauwatosa Meijer loss prevention employee told police that Longoria selected a plastic tote and loaded it up with Red Bull.

Just like in Oak Creek, all three defendants met up inside the store, and later defendants Longoria and Spiller Sr. push the cart with the tote full of Red Bull past the last point of purchase without consent and attempt to exit the store without paying for the merchandise, valued at $359.85, and are stopped by store employees.

According to the complaint, Spiller Sr. and Longoria fled in different directions. Meijer employees followed Longoria to a McDonalds restaurant where police eventually arrested him. The other two defendants got into a white Buick, that he identified as a LeSabre that left the scene.

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