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A STATE trooper has been banned from ever visiting a Target store again after he got caught stealing hundreds of dollars worth of merchandise.
Zachariah Kent, a Massachusetts State Police trooper, has been suspended without pay as he faces several counts of theft in Worcester County.
Kent, 30, has been charged with three thefts at a Target in Worcester and a theft in Millbury, Massachusetts.
His multiple thefts led a judge to ban the trooper from the massive retailer.
The state trooper was caught on camera stealing dozens of items using a “skip scan” tactic where he paid for some items at self-checkout and not others, Mass Live reported.
At a location in Millbury, Massachusetts, Kent got caught stealing around $850 in Target merchandise from January to September 2024.
On September 22, 2024, the retail giant’s loss prevention team identified Kent as a suspect in 22 shoplifting cases spread across several Targets.
Kent’s alleged shoplifting cases ranged from products priced as low as $20 to over $200.
He faced arraignment on February 13.
“When these troubling allegations came to our attention, the department immediately relieved the accused trooper of duty, opened an internal affairs investigation, and suspended him without pay following his duty status hearing,” State Police said in a statement.
“We remain fully committed to cooperating with investigators as we await the result of the criminal process.”
RISING THEFT
Kent isn’t the only retail shopper to try to take advantage of the self-checkout system.
Idaho man Dylan Rockwell creatively used a homemade barcode ring to significantly slash prices while using self-checkout machines.
A Walmart employee notified the police of a theft in progress when they caught the 32-year-old attempting to ring up a $300 grill for $0.70.
Rockwell fled before the police were able to catch him, but he finally got arrested when he was later charged with felony burglary.
In 2023, retail theft cost US businesses over $121 billion, according to a study done by Capital One.
That number is expected to rise to $150 billion by 2026 if shoplifting isn’t curved.
To prevent the continued loss, retailers are trying new ways to dissuade shoplifters by limiting self-checkout machines to a certain number of items, or in extreme cases, eliminating self-checkout altogether.
Latest self-checkout changes
Retailers are evolving their self-checkout strategy in an effort to speed up checkout times and reduce theft.
Walmart shoppers were shocked when self-checkout lanes at various locations were made available only for Walmart+ members.
Other customers reported that self-checkout was closed during specific hours, and more cashiers were offered instead.
While shoppers feared that shoplifting fueled the updates, a Walmart spokesperson revealed that store managers are simply experimenting with ways to improve checkout performance.
One bizarre experiment included an RFID-powered self-checkout kiosk that would stop the fiercely contested receipt checks.
However, that test run has been phased out.
At Target, items are being limited at self-checkout.
Last fall, the brand surveyed new express self-checkout lanes across 200 stores with 10 items or less for more convenience.
As of March 2024, this policy has been expanded across 2,000 stores in the US.
Shoppers have also spotted their local Walmart stores restricting customers to 15 items or less to use self-checkout machines.
Walmart began restricting certain self-checkout lanes to Walmart+ subscribers only, while Target started imposing 10 items or fewer rules on self-checkout stations.
However, the increased security limits began to deter rule-following customers from shopping at major retailers completely.
Walmart CEO Timothy Wentworth acknowledged that the necessary anti-theft measures has impacted the store’s sales.
“When you lock things up, you don’t sell as many of them,” Wentworth said. “We’ve kind of proven that pretty conclusively.”
