Lewisburg, Pa. — Police charged four men from New York after they were accused of stealing thousands of dollars of merchandise at two Union County grocery stores.
Warrants have been issued for the four men who allegedly stole more than $5,500 of items from Giant in East Buffalo Township and Weis Markets in Kelly Township. Those being charged with felony retail theft include: Homario L. Oldacre, 20, of Jamaica, N.Y.; Malik F. McDonald, 20, of Bay Shore; and Cartier Hardy, 19, of Jamaica, N.Y. A fourth man, Marlon Joel Polanco, 19, of Bronx, N.Y., was recently identified by police as being involved in the Weis theft.
The men are suspected of committing retail thefts at locations in at least five other counties in Pennsylvania, according to Patrolman Gary Heckman of Buffalo Valley Regional Police Department.
Heckman was called to Giant after it was discovered the four suspects entered the store on May 18 and allegedly took $3,529 of over-the-counter medications, including allergy and pain medicines.
Video showed the four men arrived at Giant the evening of May 18 in a gray Nissan sedan. An unidentified suspect got out of the car first and entered the store at the south entrance. A short time later, Hardy, McDonald, and Oldacre went into the store and headed to the pharmacy aisles. For approximately 12 minutes, Oldacre and the other suspects removed the over-the-counter medications from the shelves and concealed them inside their jackets. The men then left the store shortly before 7:30 p.m., according to Heckman.
Heckman began investigating and found the suspects were persons of interest regarding similar thefts from stores in York, Lancaster, Berks, Dauphin, and Cumberland counties.
State police at Milton received a report several days later of four men allegedly stealing $2,000 of items from Weis Markets in Kelly Township. Trp. Kyle Drick met with the asset protection officer, who found that the men had entered the store shortly after 7:30 p.m. May 18 and concealed items in their jackets. The men then left in the gray Nissan sedan, according to the affidavit.
The asset protection officers at both grocery stores told police they suspects had been involved in several other retail theft incidents. They gave police a packet of still shots that were taken from video surveillance at the other stores.
Police noted the suspects were wearing the same jackets when they were committing the other retail thefts in the state. Police also concluded the suspects used rental cars when they committed the thefts. It is believed the suspects have been committing thefts since February at Giant and Weis stores throughout the state, according to the affidavit.
Oldacre, Hardy, and Cartier were charged through the office of District Judge Jeffrey A. Rowe in Lewisburg.
On June 11, police were able to match Polanco to the theft at Weis Markets after a detective in Baltimore County, Maryland, contacted them. The detective told state police that he had obtained video surveillance from similar incidents in Maryland and had suspected Polanco and the others were involved in the Union County thefts. Drick was able to match the image of Polanco to the images from the Union County thefts. The jacket Polanco was wearing during the thefts also matched, according to the affidavit.
Police said there are multiple warrants out for the suspects.
Oldacre Giant theft
Oldacre Weis theft
McDonald Giant theft
McDonald Weis theft
Hardy Giant theft
Hardy Weis theft
Docket Sheet Polanco
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