Crime & Safety

Bulging Pants Give Away Thief at Best Buy

This Mequon man thought he could stuff an 8-inch box in his pants and walk out with a set of $300 headphones. Little did he know loss prevention was watching him closely from the appliance aisle and Brown Deer police would be on the lookout for him.

A 22-year-old Mequon man thought he could sneak out of Best Buy with some video games jammed into his pants. Little did he know that loss prevention would notice the 8-inch bulge and find it a little unnatural. 

According to the report:

were called to , 8755 N. Port Washington Rd., around 8 p.m. on Aug. 6 for a theft that had just occurred. While they were en route to the store, a Brown Deer officer found the getaway car in the 4100 block of West Brown Deer Road. They detained the driver and his 20-year-old friend from Oak Creek until all the information could be gathered. 

Find out what's happening in Fox Point-Baysidewith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Meanwhile, a Fox Point officer went to Best Buy and spoke with a loss prevention officer. He said his manager saw two men acting suspiciously, so he told the loss prevention officer to watch them closely.

As he stood in the appliance section, he saw the 22-year-old standing by the refrigerators stuffing a box down the front of his blue jeans. He notified his manager, and the manager confronted the man.

Find out what's happening in Fox Point-Baysidewith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The manager asked the man if he was going to pay for the items he put down the front of his pants. The box was fairly large – 4-by-3-by-8 inches – and was obviously bulging from his pants. He said he was going to pay for it and removed it from his pants.

But he didn't go quietly. 

When he took the box of "Beats by Dr. Dre" headphones out of his pants, the manager noticed the box was ripped. As the thief was escorted to the register, he balked at paying for the $299.99 item and walked away from the manager to the Nintendo aisle, dropping an attachment cord that had been inside the box. 

As the man left the Nintendo aisle, he quickly walked out the front door and met his 20-year-old Oak Creek friend at the car. The loss prevention officer said he saw both men pushing other items from the vehicle onto the pavement before they left the parking lot.

The loss prevention officer immediately went to the parking lot to retrieve the items tossed from the truck, which included 10 open foil packs of World of Warcraft cards and two cardboard packets of cards. It was later determined that these packets were not stolen from the Best Buy but just abandoned by the suspects.

Fox Point police went to meet the Brown Deer officer who had found the two, and during the interview, the Mequon man admitted to concealing the headphones in his pants to steal them from the store. He was arrested and cited for retail theft.

Both men are now banned from Best Buy and can be arrested for trespassing if they return. 


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

To request removal of your name from an arrest report, submit these required items to arrestreports@patch.com.