Officer Jose A. Barahona Accused of Stealing from Walmart He Was Hired to Protect

A Maryland police officer stole a Dyson vacuum cleaner, instant oatmeal and two boxes of condoms during his off-duty security job at a Walmart store, according to Montgomery County Police officials and a statement of charges the department filed Sunday.

The officer, Jose A. Barahona, 25, of Silver Spring, took the items during “a continuing course of conduct” in the store in Germantown, according to court filings, which also state that store surveillance video shows that Barahona took additional, unknown items going back to late last year.

The officer, who joined the Montgomery County force four years ago, most recently worked patrol in the county’s Wheaton District. He has been suspended from duty, with pay, pending “the completion of this investigation and future court action,” police officials said in a statement.

MCPD Officer Charged with Theft: https://t.co/L5GMtxet0E

— Montgomery Co Police (@mcpnews) March 12, 2018

Barahona faces three misdemeanor counts: theft scheme ranging from $100 to $1,500; theft in that same range; and theft under $100.

[...][MCPD Sgt. Robert] Rollins in the filings said he saw Barahona walking through the store at 10:35 p.m. on Feb. 2, a Friday, when he lifted the condoms, valued at $28.94, the Quaker oatmeal, valued at $4.33, and something that could not be identified from the video. Video showed the officer taking the items to his car and returning. Two hours later, surveillance cameras captured Barahona walking out with a Dyson DC33 vacuum cleaner, valued at $199, and putting it in his car’s back seat, the court records state.

In one case, the clerk said, Barahona asked her to open a locked case in the electronics section, which she did, but then she refused his request to remove security packaging from a Microsoft Xbox game system, valued at $399.

In the other alleged incident, according to the clerk’s account in court files, Barahona asked if he could return an iPhone case, valued at $80, which he’d ostensibly purchased from the store but did not appear on a receipt he produced.

Rollins and the loss prevention officer watched surveillance video for other times that Barahona worked in the store and spotted three additional suspicious events, including two alleged incidents in which he appeared to hold or conceal items in his ballistic vest, the court filings state. But because of the time that had passed, Rollins wrote, Walmart employees couldn’t determine what may have been taken.

A review of Walmart’s video surveillance by the investigating officer during the times that Barahona was known to have been working in the store revealed that from December 23, 2017, to February 3, 2018, Barahona engaged in a continuing course of conduct of stealing items from the Walmart store while he was working as a security guard.