Gavin Fonti, a repeat offender, arrested after stealing meat and attempting escape on an e-scooter.
Fonti stuffed a bag full of the stolen meat and tried to escape on his scooter. He’d been doing thefts around there for a while.
An officer in plain clothes waited outside. It was a sting operation to catch him. The cop jumped at Fonti, pushed him off his scooter, and arrested him right away.
Fonti didn’t have a permanent address. He was charged with stealing from the Co-op and also got five more theft charges from a nearby BP Garage.
He went to court on February third and was sentenced to 20 weeks in jail. His arrest was part of a bigger police plan.
That police plan led to 18 arrests and 85 charges in just four days. The police looked at 15 shops with high theft rates between January 30 and February 2.
A police sergeant, Dave Salmon, spoke about it, saying it showed good neighborhood policing. They removed repeat shoplifters because shoplifting hurts businesses, staff, and people. It can also cause other crimes.