By Olivia Lueckemeyer, for UptownMessenger.com
Rolland K. Jones (via NOPD)
Investigators have identified a serial shoplifter who has been caught on video stealing cases of beer from a Magazine Street convenience store on four separate occasions, and are hoping the public can help locate him, authorities say.
The alleged beer bandit is 39-year-old Rolland K. Jones, who is wanted by the New Orleans Police Department on four counts of theft by shoplifting, authorities say. Second District detectives say they have video footage of Jones stealing two cases of Heineken beer from the Circle K at 6050 Magazine Street on four separate occasions spanning from May to September 2011. According to incident reports, Jones enters the business and goes straight to the beer cooler before taking off with the stolen goods.
Large retail stores such as Walgreens, Rite Aid, and Circle K are the most common businesses shoplifted from, but all of them have video footage that aids in arresting the shoplifter, said Sgt. Warren Keller of the Second District property-crimes division.
“Normally, we will take the video and try to identify a person based off of that,” Keller said. “That is what we did with this guy, Rolland Jones. We had video of him on every case.”
Shoplifting has spiked this year in the Second District, and the Magazine Street Circle K “has been getting hit a lot,” Keller said. “But hopefully we will see a drop in that because Mr. Jones has been identified, and hopefully he will be arrested.”
Although stealing two cases of beer at a time may seem brazen, Circle K employees are instructed not to interfere in such incidents.
“It is against our policy to chase, fight, or confront shoplifters,” said Circle K human-resources representative Joyce Clemmons.
Upon witnessing what Circle K calls a “beer run,” cashiers are responsible for immediately contacting local authorities and writing an incident report that details what happened and what the retail amount was lost.
Olivia Lueckemeyer is a junior in mass communication and journalism at Loyola University New Orleans and can be reached at olueckemeyer@yahoo.com. This article appears on UptownMessenger.com in partnership with the Beginning Reporting class taught by Loyola Maroon advisor Michael Giusti.
Heineken…thats about right.
Not sure I’d want my HR rep telling the world that you can take whatever you want from my store without worrying about being confronted whatsoever by store employees….
I was in the Magazine St. Circle K with my kids getting Icee’s back in September when two guys walked out the walk-in cooler each carrying two cases of beer (one guy had two cases of Bud, the other two cases of Heineken). I thought they were buying beer for a party but the dudes walked straight out the door without paying and then took off running toward Magazine and Henry Clay. I drove around the corner to see if I could spot them and one guy had dropped one of the cases of Heineken near the dentist’s office right before Henry Clay. Foam and glass everywhere. I can’t ID the guy in the picture, but he looks familiar.