what happens when the person sworn to enforce the law becomes the subject of an investigation this case raises questions that go beyond one individual and into the structure of the law itself hey buddy Melissa how you doing good um she got totes I saw her in totes grabbing them and since it's such a big issue with us I started following her every single item she got she opened the tote put it in and closed it every single time and then when she got to the front end the only thing she purchased was the tote and then she tried before she even bought the tote to she went to the GM exit was stopped there by the doorhouse went back under customer service then went back purchase the tote and then went through grocery so it's kind of where we're at right now can you send me a video so we'll see um BR just gonna chat with you and stuff were you just were you just getting off work and stuff okay I'm getting stuff for PD for the day I lost my keys oh so I was gonna ask the lady at the front if she could hold my card OK while I go out to the parking lot to get my keys get your keys and stuff OK so I'm flustered cause I got a phone call too okay yeah and he'll he'll chat with you about it and we'll try to figure out do you have your weapon on you no I took it off professional courtesy I'm not putting you in handcuffs we're gonna take you to the car put you in the back I'm gonna take your bag and just make sure you have nothing on you okay fair enough and then we'll we'll chat down with the PDS and stuff okay we're gonna walk around here real quick so she's still she's got a patrol car here oh OK i'mma have you sit back here and then i'mma read your rights and everything OK I heard her telling you that yes she was so that's why I was like let's double check with miles cause she was trying to claim that she was gonna go intercept somebody at the front to watch her car so she can go back out to her car cause she can't find her keys why was she stuffing it in the bag exactly so did we find the keys that's that's another thing to search the bag and see if she has her keys or not but yeah but as we pulled in we see your patrol car chilling yeah we ran ahead so she came here just got off work came here my region man of rights you have the right to have one appoint to you prior question do you understand his rights yes thank you okay so what happened here and be and just be straight with me I mean we all make mistakes I'm looking for my keys so what ended up happening was I went over I'm supposed to get two totes so I ended up grabbing one tote and I put some stuff in there and then I got a phone call somebody was letting me know we had a family member passed away this morning so I was just getting ready to leave but I thought I could go to the front and ask for my keys there's a lady that's usually right here she's pretty good about letting you know somebody like park your cart and then go I went in and I got one of the totes cause I need to get candy for the department and then I was gonna put the other stuff in that tote for my it's my personal stuff that I'm gonna buy for for today so I couldn't fit the other tote in there cause there's two lids there's only one tote right I paid for the tote I can go did they did you see the video all yet no do you want to just yeah I'm gonna go watch so the tote you have how come you were putting aside and then put the lid on it cause I'm gonna fit another toad in there with candy if that makes any sense it just fits side by side I just wanna see the video yes cause she's telling us something and I wanna make sure that what she's trying to tell us doesn't match up I was watching her on the video yeah because when she was in the front end that that check those self checks that are closed she went through there she had her phone out okay then she cuts around the corner goes over to Clint door 2 Clint talks to her she turns around she goes to customer service she waits in line in customer service for a minute or two she rolls up says a couple words to generally the team lead comes out heads back to door two talks to client again circles back around and then she cuts through up through the self check turns around gets in line to self check the box okay she's at self check 5 she buys she scans the tote just the tote doesn't open anything scans the tote just the tote gets her receipt heads out goes right past the the door host on one has and she's passed everything she's passed the scanner yeah yeah and that's when OK so cause she's she's claiming that she was trying to find someone to watch her cart cause she didn't know where but that doesn't explain why she would then try to push out the merchandise so you said you came here and you're buying it for the department yes what were you buying for the department candy for what uh it's a trunk or treats your department pay for that yes they gave me $500 and you're telling me just make sure it's clear cause you had a family member die yes you lost your keys got flustered and it was on on yes unintentional it was a mistake yes nothing was intentional yes I'm a detective but no this is not OK and so that's your bag your personal bag yes so do you have any problem if I look through make sure no keys or nothing in there yes OK that's fine and you have no keys on you no so that way I'mma sort it out cause obviously if it's truly a mistake last thing I want you to do is in our car no me too okay so let just give me a minute let me try to figure this out and that's why I want to respect you and put you here so you're not in front of everybody out there no I'm feeling already embarrassed I know it's not okay attention okay just hang tight for me okay thank you did she say any reason why she was like stuffing it at all like she told me cause she had 2 totes and so with the 2 totes it took all the cart so that's why she was putting it in there and in there cause otherwise she wouldn't have enough room so that kind of makes sense okay but but she ended up purchasing one tote though is that what they said yeah what's the name okay well coach look at the video so so we can put her if we want we can put her bag in here and we can go take a look at that video okay just to make sure I I agree with you just to make sure hey real quick question I was talking to the officer and when you went through there you did pay for one of the totes how come you only paid for one and not the stuff in there well cause I was I was like I said I got a phone call I was I was flustered so you got a phone call you got a phone call when you're checking out or when no no I got it on my way out so after you checked out yes so but yeah so well no no no no let me let me rephrase that I got a phone call a little bit earlier than that on my way out the other side I forgot that there was other items in there and like I said like in my mind thinking okay I gotta go look for my keys to get out of here OK OK hang tight we're just gonna check the video OK OK yeah we just wanna make sure that we can right clearly refute what she's trying to tell us she's gonna fight this like I got it oh yeah she has to fight this cause she's she wants to keep her certificate so alright so under our criteria this is um she's already staged the tote yeah so the tote is full of all the stuff you need yeah okay okay grabs a receipt why is she grabbing a bag this is confusing to me she grabs a bag and sticks it in there and then she never does anything with it my man is she planning to like go try to do returns on the merchandise with the bag like what is the plan here something weird's going on okay alright she's full of it yeah we're thinking so so she she picks out a bunch of stuff she keeps putting one item in the tote closes the lid she went to a door host went to customer service at no point did she leave the cart or attempt to leave the merchandise she has the tote staged in the cart she goes up to the self checkout skin takes the receipt grabs an empty Walmart bag and then proceeds right past everything to come out the doors and that's when they stopped the tote was like this was there any candy items nope that don't make sense cause didn't she say she came to buy candy for the PD she's just trying to play on her emotions with the chocolate tree she's she's lying one tote two lids and then the empty bag I'm thinking she grabbed the bag to try to probably stage it as legitimate if she got stopped yeah would be my guess yeah everything I've seen obviously I'm just minding my own business working at Walmart but everything I've seen she was super nervous yeah and I recognize her and I swear I've seen her on camera yeah OK yeah let us know too if you see anything else yeah I'll definitely tell would you like her trespass on top of this too or no it's her first one first one so my thought we go back to reinterviewer just straight up lay it out say listen the difference between you getting booked into jail today and getting cited for shoplifting is you telling the truth yeah because I think if she's wants to continue to lie about it we also charge her false reporting dude like yeah because I mean what's the reason why lie at this point yeah my issue is her doing this makes all of us look bad so it's kind of BS I think if she's willing to tell the truth yeah we consider that odd yeah cause she has her car but I think if she wants to try to dig in her heels and stick with her BS story then dude no we're not playing it cars here call supervisor you need to pick up cars at Walmart yeah I'm I'm game for that that's my feeling I think it's a good strategy I really do let's do it this was a personal bag right yeah it's all her personal yeah what is that C10 Pro dude IR scanner what's an IR scanner I don't know let me look it up it's pretty high tense there it's a camera detector like for detecting surveillance cameras oh what is that thing detecting surveillance cameras like yeah or bugs like RF frequency stuff is that the that's the bag that she took off I bet you I couldn't hear super good but she said she claimed oh she got lost oh nice dude she's probably in the square yeah well and so miles said he swear he has seen her before cause I'd be interested if he goes back and finds anything else dude you know he will yeah Captain Captain Steve's car oh nice okay real quick I'm gonna tell you after going in there went to a video and saw the video on that and I actually seen where you know each time going through there concealing items and then you why did you grab an extra Walmart bag when you checked out oh did I yeah I didn't realize well even in your bag you got a bunch of empty Walmart bags those are those are for poop for my Belgian Malinois so you keep them when you buy but you don't recall grabbing one today okay well and then initially you told me you came here because the trunk or treat yes see if you well none of the stuff you had with you were nothing with candy or nothing like that well yeah so I was gonna do my stuff and then come through and get the candy stuff cause it's it's really heavy to carry in a tote it just doesn't look good the whole thing but I'm just asking to be honest cause here's the situation here videos here the other officers reviewed it and said that's why I'm asking to be honest you were both officers so no that was not my intention so you never had intention you're saying it's totally accidental yes alright hang tight do you mind if I talk to you jump in yeah she's already been behind us so here's the situation obviously you know why we're over here yes I do yup so why were the items inside of the tote like I said I have two separate totes I was gonna do one for the candy and then one for my personal stuff I was on my way home uh huh now we told her as professional curse actually I mean I cuss we don't do that to no one else and when were you gonna get the candy then um I was gonna get them probably around the same time I was going around to make candy usually melts so I didn't want to put it in my car right away I believe that you're looking for your keys but here's the deal you did a crime today I know it doesn't look good hmm no it's illegal it's not that it doesn't look good it's it's shoplifting that was not my intention I'm not asking you what your intention was I know okay I know I got him I'm not saying when you got here you planned to steal stuff no I'm not saying that what's Ross's number you might come and run down what's his number oh uh I'll give you his work right now since we're now you're a certified peace officer correct yes if I lost my keys what are the keys for my car my unit yeah so if I lost my keys for my unit I would leave my merchandise and go find it because it's kind of important especially you said your weapons in there correct yes so why go through self checkout purchase the tote and then try to leave the store hey how's it going we're chatting with her if you just give us a couple minutes yeah um actually can we talk over here real quick you're her captain right is that your captain so we have her on video and it looks pretty clear that she was uh concealing items into a tote they've been they've been watching you I watched the surveillance video you look like a thief I'm gonna be honest with you you look like a shoplifter on the video I've watched a lot of shoplifters on video you look like a shoplifter okay that's not good then it's not I mean we dealing probable cause right what's probable let me ask you you have this call right now take your profession out of it what's probable evidence whatever you got I'm not asking you that I'm asking you what's probable I guess what it looks like what does it look like it looks like shoplifting the bus what a day haha alright sit tight yo this is uh this is her captain oh hello so she's saying she did she didn't need to buy a tote cool well she also shoplifted yeah that's why I told so the problem is that she's given us seven different stories about what she was doing and how she was trying to get that accomplished yeah and Asset Protection watched her load a tote with personal items yeah one item at a time close the lid every time she had ample opportunities to stop and leave her cart with someone she decided instead to purchase only the tote that was full of the items yeah and then attempt to leave the store without stopping to talk to anybody yeah before she was confronted by Asset Protection does she have her unique no she's saying she still doesn't know where that is but we also haven't dug through her pockets or anything like that but I mean she did shoplifting so that's where we're at today OK is at the very least she's getting charged for shoplifting OK so I was just talking to the supervisor real quick yeah um so I'm pretty sure I found her doing it I think I found her doing it again hey you found her doing it another time not so there's another one um I this one's gonna take a lot longer so you found another one too yeah so I found another one this one's the the most concerning cause I gotta make sure that she didn't pay for any of this stuff I don't wanna say anything out of turn but sure yeah yeah now she has a tote with a bunch of stuff around it one of my sources actually does her job for once and takes the tote the top of the tote off oh my God yeah there's Lego sets on Lego sets on Lego sets so that's all inside of there I wanna make sure that I that she didn't have any point pay for this already but that's pretty suspicious in our yeah in our line of work give me the dates on today's the what the 6th today is the 6th the 30th and 9:30 and then the big one was gonna be 8 27 8 27 if that is what we see and she looks like she yeah so she puts it back on without no she got her back that same I'm maybe that's a backpack she carries always but maybe that's like her purse or something yeah but this one the 30th she's she has like her hair tight she has her looks like work looks like yeah work boots on there so on the 9:30 in uniform and today in uniform and our patrol vehicles out there now so like I told you being honest straight with me and i'mma i'mma be straight with you right now okay so after loss prevention saw you this little time he found two other days where you're shop filling it with the toys filling the other one with candy so if it if it's truly those three then they want to book you in for a felony for the value in that cause the one with all the toys that you didn't pay for the other time when you came in so they have three videos they're pulling right now and it's showing the 10 that's why I asked you to be honest just give me a give you a opportunity so we're human we make mistakes and did you do it or not I mean that's why I said it doesn't look good especially you being an officer if you're lying to me but straight I made a mistake I did this tell me that's all I'm asking you so is that something you commonly do and just no I wasn't I wasn't trying to take anything today today no but you have in the past yes okay that's it I told him ask to be honest with me cause that's the worst thing is when I see those videos and then you tell me today you know what I mean so in the past you did but today it was truly an accident yes okay yes fair enough I appreciate that okay and that's why I'm trying to work with you yes I just don't want handcuffs I'm not doing that I would expect you to do the same to me if you dealt with me okay yes so same time that's why I'mma keep it posted as we go straight with me honestly I'll see you have it because when I went in there they showed me two other videos and I said so if there is three we're booking you for felony and she's like today was not sure I said so are you telling me you never stole here she's like I have stole here but not today but then I'll give miles some time to give us the evidence but he told me within an hour he told me I told I gave my number and I said so you have an answer within an hour he said within an hour and just to tell you she asked what was going on after you were here and I said after reviewing that video I realized you lied to me I said have you stolen it she's like yeah I have stolen it here but today wasn't intentional so we're gonna discuss it with our boss go back to see if we're gonna do the long form it'll be nice to do a long form so she can come in tomorrow and place her on leave or something pending investigation we'll let you know here in about 20 minutes or so alright thank you ma'am appreciate it captain hey Melissa what were you thinking I mean I don't understand why would you put your career online for something foolish like this you know what I mean it's not it's not worth it even if you say today wasn't intentional they already got 3 other videos the incident involved a uniformed officer systematic concealment of merchandise and multiple surveillance records spanning several months each element carries distinct legal weight under Arizona statutes and federal constitutional law probable cause Terry v Ohio 392 US 1 1,968 a trained observer who directly witnesses concealment behavior establishes reasonable articulable suspicion the legal minimum required for a lawful investigative stop professional status does not modify this standard Illinois v Gates 462 US 213 1,983 probable cause is evaluated under the totality of circumstances standard direct eyewitness observation plus independent video corroborations satisfies this threshold as a matter of settled law shoplifting Arizona Revised Statute section 13 1,805 the offense is complete upon passing the final point of purchase with concealed unpaid merchandise intent is inferred from the conduct itself not from a stated purpose Organized Retail Theft Arizona Revised Statute Section 13 1,816 two or more incidents of shoplifting from the same retailer as part of a course of conduct constitute a class 4 or class 5 felony the pattern triggers the statute not the value of any single transaction custodial detention Burk M v Mccarty 468 US 421,984 securing a suspect in the rear of a locked patrol vehicle establishes custodial status Fifth Amendment protections attach immediately and Miranda obligations become mandatory before any interrogation begins Miranda v Arizona 384 US 436 10966 I am a detective OK custodial interrogation without prior advisement of the right to silence and the right to counsel can render resulting statements inadmissible the advisement must precede substantive questioning not follow it equal Protection United States Constitution 14th Amendment similarly situated individuals must receive similar treatment under the law waving standard arrest procedures based on a suspect's professional affiliation creates a documented departure from equal application that becomes part of the legal record grand v Connor four hundred ninety USD 386 1,989 discretionary detention decisions are subject to an objective reasonableness standard a procedural accommodation that would not be extended to a civilian suspect requires a legally articulable justification fraudulent schemes Arizona Revised Statute Section 13 2,310 class 2 felony knowingly obtaining a financial benefit through false pretenses as part of a scheme to defraud submitting returns for items that purchase records show were never lawfully acquired satisfies every statutory element disertification Arizona Revised Statute Section 13 4,059 a peace officer convicted of any felony offense loses certification automatically and permanently Arizona law provides no reinstatement pathway the professional consequence is final and irreversible lesson 1 probable cause is evidence driven not identity driven direct observation corroborated by video satisfies the standard regardless of who the suspect is courts apply Terry and Gates uniformly Lesson 2 Miranda attaches upon physical control not upon formal arrest placing a suspect in a locked vehicle before questioning requires advisement first a procedural shortcut at this stage can compromise an otherwise complete evidentiary record lesson 3 professional courtesy and the 14th Amendment are in direct conflict a documented deviation from standard arrest procedure based on occupational affiliation creates civil rights exposure for the department and a suppression argument for the defense lesson 4 aggregate value across multiple incidents determines the felony classification a misdemeanor in isolation becomes organized retail theft when the conduct is repeated as part of a pattern the statute targets the scheme not the transaction three documented incidents across several months fraudulent returns on items never purchased and on camera admission to prior conduct what does the prosecution need to prove at trial and what legal defences remain available to the defendant did the professional courtesy extended during detention create 14th amendment exposure for the responding department was the Miranda advisement as captured on camera legally sufficient to support the admissions that followed a not guilty plea places the full burden of proof on the state video evidence exists admissions were recorded but evidence is not the same as proof beyond a reasonable doubt what happens at trial and what the law actually requires is where the analysis continues