Felon impersonates police officer while shoplifting at Walmart
Chicago IL Jan 14 2018
Authorities said a Northwest Side man with 12 felony convictions claimed to be a Chicago police officer when security guards at a Walmart stopped him as he tried to leave the store with more than $90 in cigarette lighters tucked inside his coat.
Police said Cristobal Villarreal was inside a Walmart in the 4600 block of West Diversey Avenue around 2 p.m. Thursday when a cashier saw him stuff several packs of Bic lighters into his coat and walk past the last point of sale without paying for the items.
When three security guards approached him and asked whether he paid for the items, Villarreal — who was dressed in a Chicago Cubs cap, a Chicago police shirt and coat adorned with police patches and an empty blue bulletproof vest cover — told the men he was “the police” and kept walking, according to Cook County prosecutors and police.
Two of the guards then told Villarreal that they were also Chicago police officers working security at the store and all three guards tried to take him into custody after noticing several items concealed under his clothing, according to an arrest report.
The 57-year-old Villarreal insisted that he was a four-year member of the department, prosecutors told a judge Saturday at the Leighton Criminal Court Building.
Villarreal, of the 2900 block of North Long Avenue, pulled away from the guards before they performed an emergency takedown and placed him in handcuffs. Police found 12 packs of lighters and at least two cans of baby formula, worth $93, the arrest report stated. The incident was captured on the store’s surveillance system.
He was later arrested and charged with false impersonation of a police officer and retail theft.
Judge Stephanie K. Miller released Villarreal on a personal recognizance bond, but gave him a curfew from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
