When a police officer asked him what happened, the 46-year-old man, who was found in his parked vehicle not far away from the scene, said, according to police, “I was stupid. I did a dumb thing.”
The man, who lives in Stratford, had been in the At Home in the Heights store at 300 Heights Road when a store employee saw him put salad tongs priced at $39 in his back pocket and leave the store without paying, police said.
Police gave this further account (with accusations not proven in court):
A store employee followed the man outside the store and confronted him, asking him to give back the tongs. He gave them to her.
He then got in a Chevrolet Traverse and drove away, but not before the employee noted the make and model of the car and its license plate. Police were called at 10:45 a.m. that day — Monday, March 7.
A few minutes later, a police officer spotted the vehicle parked at 370 Heights Road. The officer stopped and spoke to the man, who said he’d been stupid and done a dumb thing. He was identified by employees from the store as the shoplifter.
The man was arrested on a charge of sixth-degree larceny and later posted $500 through a bail bonds service. He is to appear March 17 in state Superior Court in Stamford.