Stratford man accused of theft from Norwalk’s Stew Leonard’s charged with robbery
STAMFORD CT June 11 2022 — A Stratford man has been charged with robbery after he allegedly threatened a security guard during an apparent theft of seafood from Stew Leonard’s, according to an arrest warrant.
Jeffrey Thomas, 32, was arrested Wednesday on charges of first-degree robbery and conspiracy to commit first-degree robbery.
The arrest comes weeks after his sister, 38-year-old Tara Stewart, also of Stratford, was arrested on similar charges.
The charges stem from a Feb. 27 incident at Stew Leonard’s grocery store on Westport Avenue in Norwalk where a store security guard told police he watched a man and a woman leave the store carrying three bags of seafood that they allegedly had not purchased, according to Thomas’s arrest warrant.
The warrant said that the guard, after asking repeatedly for receipts, attempted to remove the merchandise from the people’s car. At that point, the warrant said, Thomas lifted his shirt and pulled out a black metal object that appeared to be a gun.
The couple then drove away from the parking lot, according to the warrant.
Thomas told police in an interview that he was reaching for a knife because “he probably got scared” and did not have a gun.
Thomas turned himself in to Norwalk police Wednesday.
