The Mac Daddy called me today from his post at the largest ghetto supermarket in Maryland. This store reopened 10 years ago after being closed for a decade, and was only able to do so because the company and the municipal authorities made a deal to employ ‘overtime’ police officers as security, alongside uniformed security and store detectives.

The store manager had noted that with the advent of cooler weather the candy section was missing $600 to $800 a week in shelf stock not accounted for through register receipts. It typically takes 10 days to note such patterns.

As Los Prevention began investigating this, Secci, the non foods manager, noticed a young man in his mid 20s walking toward the front door with bulging clothes. She tapped the man on his shoulder and he ran, giant chocolate bars and family sized bags of candy spilling from his pants and sleeves.

The manager now had the time and the description he needed. These thieves generally keep a schedule as they usually work on foot and travel by bus, to time-sensitive sales locations. Most steal in the evening and resell before midnight at bars. I am guessing this guy hit major transfer points and sold ‘office candy’ to employees headed to work in their corporate cubicles.

Video research pinned the Candy Man, as he was now known among the staff, down to the half hour preceding 8 a.m. It is 8:28 as I write. The Mac Daddy called me at 8:07 and regaled me with this tale as the Candy Man was being taken out to the paddy wagon. The company will prosecute.

Usually shoplifters are not prosecuted, simply being fined the cost of the goods they attempted to steal plus $50. With this video evidence the retailer is hoping to get this guy convicted on a felony. When I worked for this company 10 years ago Baltimore City police would not arrest a shoplifter who had less than $300 of goods on them or had damaged an equal amount in their bid for freedom. Since 2009 and the economic dip and attendant higher drug addiction rates shoplifters—particularly those who back talk responding cops or are brazen enough to steal from under the nose of an off duty cop working in a security role—are shown slim mercy.

The problem is there may be no room for this guy in prison and he is probably an addict and will return to his trade as soon as released.