Grafton man accused; 'skip scanning,' stealing merchandise from Meijer
GRAFTON, Wis. - A 41-year-old Grafton man is accused of "skip scanning" and leaving the Grafton Meijer grocery store with hundreds of dollars in merchandise – and it didn't just happen once or twice. The accused is Kevin Deering, the Executive Director of Educational Services for Mequon-Thiensville School District – and he faces a charge of felony retail theft.
"There was at least 12 times he was caught stealing. The total was over $800," said Grafton Police Sgt. Sean Fuerstenberg.
According to the criminal complaint, Grafton police were dispatched to the Meijer store on Port Washington Road to investigate a retail theft incident. The store's loss prevention employee indicated he learned of a series of retail thefts committed by the same customer, the defendant, Kevin Deering. The employee "reported that Deering's actions involved 'skip scanning,' whereby Deering would have multiples of the same item but only scan and pay for one of the items. He would also weigh produce items and then add additional items after the initial lesser weight was recorded. In some instances, Deering would also leave items in his cart such as small appliances and avoid scanning them altogether, but still leave with the items and without paying for them," the complaint says.
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"It was obvious that this was not a mistake," Fuerstenberg said.
The loss prevention employee pulled up store video from an incident on Saturday, April 8. The complaint says the Grafton officer "observed Deering holding multiple items but only scanning one. Deering is also observed entering '1' as a quantity despite having multiple of the same item." The complaint says the officer "observed that several items were left in the cart that Deering made no attempt to scan. (The loss prevention officer) provided a receipt of Deering's checkout purchases, which was used to compare against his actions on the video."
Grafton Meijer
According to the complaint, the loss prevention employee had been alerted to the behavior of the defendant on March 11. He "reviewed Deering's previous transactions and learned of similar incidents of skip scanning or failing to scan products." Those previous incidents happened from Feb. 14 through April 2. The store's loss from these incidents ranged daily from $15.42 to $146.77, the complaint says.
The court documents say among "all of Deering's known theft incidents, Meijer reports a total loss of $864.47."
"He didn’t admit to anything immediately. He said that everything goes fast there so if he made a mistake he’d reimburse Meijer," Fuerstenberg said.
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When police spoke with Deering, he "indicated he did not realize he was doing this and that he would pay for the items. He later stated that he understood if it was on video and that he wanted to cooperate. (The officer) pointed out that Deering is observed on video on multiple occasions doing the same thing, which shows that this was not just a mistake of missing one or two items, but indicates Deering was blatantly avoiding scanning items to avoid paying for them."
"Some people think they can get away with this – that it’s easy to use self-checkouts and not get caught, but the reality is they’re watching you," Fuerstenberg said.
Deering made his initial appearance in Ozaukee County court on Monday, April 10. A signature bond of $2,000 was set by the court.
Mequon-Thiensville School District
Mequon-Thiensville School District statement
"On the evening of Sunday, April 9, Mequon-Thiensville School District (MTSD) administrators became aware of a situation involving an MTSD employee. The employee has been placed on administrative leave, effective Monday, April 10. As this is a confidential personnel matter and an ongoing legal investigation, we do not have any further comment at this time."