Iowa man charged with shoplifting at bookstore
Suspect arrested on suspicion of shoplifting, apprehended after attempting to flee on foot.
Britta Moline
Issue date: 3/9/10 Section: News
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According to the St. Paul police report, Benjamin Miletich was suspected of attempting to shoplift five textbooks worth an estimated $500 total. Miletich was charged by St. Paul Police with theft ranging from $501 to $1,000, which is typically classified as a gross misdemeanor.
St. Paul Police said they found nine other textbooks in the trunk of Miletich's car. The Hamline Safety and Security report stated the books were stamped with the name of Mount Mercy College in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Bruce Mathews, assistant director of Safety and Security, said Mount Mercy will also pursue criminal charges.
The Safety and Security report states that bookstore employees suspected Miletich of concealing books beneath a sweatshirt and Carhartt jacket. Sgt. Brett Fischer and Officers Thomas Fetrow, Robert Whitman and Richard Cope were dispatched by Safety and Security to the bookstore. Miletich tried to dump the books after spotting the officers, Mathews said.
"Just outside the store there's a box for book donations," Mathews said. "He [Miletich] dumps the books there and then goes out through the Hutton area, goes out those doors."
According to Mathews, Miletich had left an unattended but idling vehicle with Iowa license plates on Hewitt Avenue in a 'no parking' zone. Officer Otto recorded the license plate number. Mathews said Miletich had already fled the scene.
"We find him, along with the St. Paul P.D., down on Minnehaha," said Mathews. "So he traveled quite a distance on foot."
According to the Safety and Security report, Miletich confessed to shoplifting from Hamline and Mercy College.
According to the report, Miletich was supposedly, "boasting about how easy it is and that it's quick money."
Instead of re-selling the books at area campuses, which is riskier, the report stated Miletich explained how post the books for sale on Craigslist.org. The process, claimed the suspect in the report, takes five minutes and his expected profit was $300.
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