Thieves Caught Red-Handed at Home Depot
Inside the can detectives found a number of tools, some with the security tags still attached. Hildenbrand said the tools were valued at about $1,500.
Geauga County Sheriff’s Office detectives apprehended a couple of thieves from Painesville in the parking lot of the Chardon Home Depot about 1230 p.m. Tuesday, according to Sheriff Scott Hildenbrand.
“Our detectives got a BOLO (be on the lookout) for a guy and a girl who pawned a lot of new tools at a Willoughby pawnshop,” Hildenbrand told the Geauga County Maple Leaf on Wednesday.
The detectives decided to patrol the Home Depot parking lot and noticed a woman driving around, appearing to be waiting for someone, he added.
After a while, they noticed a man come out carrying a big, metal trash can and a couple of two-by-fours. Hildenbrand said that is a typical way thieves get tools out of a store undetected, because the metal interferes with the security tags on the items.
When the detectives approached the man, later identified as Giacumo Desoto, 30, of Painesville, he said, “You’re not looking in that trash can,” Hildenbrand said.
When asked, Desoto presented them with a receipt, but it wasn’t for the can or the lumber, the sheriff said.
Inside the can detectives found a number of tools, some with the security tags still attached. Hildenbrand said the tools were valued at about $1,500.
Assisted by Chardon Police Department personnel, the detectives arrested Desoto and his driver, Christa Rains, 31. Desoto was charged in Chardon Municipal Court with fifth-degree felony theft and Rains with complicity to commit aggravated theft, also a fifth-degree felony.
The tools were photographed and returned to the store, Hildenbrand said, adding Desoto had a police record of multiple offenses.
