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<p>WILKES-BARRE &#8212; A Luzerne County detective has filed a lawsuit against a security officer and the company he works for, after the detective said he was falsely detained on an accusation that he stole a candy bar from a grocery store.</p><p>The suit was filed by Det. Charles Balogh through his attorney Frank Tunis on Friday.</p><p>It names Legion Security Services Inc. and Aldi, saying he was &#8220;falsely, publicly, and maliciously&#8221; accused of theft by a security officer at the store.</p><p>The incident occurred Jan. 17, 2018, at Aldi, 481 Pierce St., Kingston, according to the filing.</p><p>Balogh claims he was &#8220;unlawfully stopped&#8221; by security officer John Barton, who is also named as a defendant in the suit. Barton accused Balogh of stealing a candy bar &#8220;without any probable cause or reasonable belief that any such theft had occurred.&#8221;</p><p>The lawsuit indicates Barton is an employee of Legion Security and was working as a security officer that day at Aldi.</p><p>Balogh said Barton compelled him to submit to a search of his clothing and person for the &#8220;alleged purpose of discovering said property falsely claimed to have been stolen by (Balogh).&#8221;</p><p>Balogh claims he told Barton he did not steal any candy bars or anything else, demanding to be released. But Barton allegedly refused to release Balogh, continuing his &#8220;unlawful seizure, holding, detention and/or imprisonment of (Balogh).&#8221;</p><p>The suit suggests Barton threatened Balogh with prosecution for the alleged theft.</p><p>Eventually, Kingston Police Officer Michael Haley was dispatched. The suit says Haley confirmed Balogh did not steal any merchandise from the store.</p><p>Further, surveillance footage reviewed by Haley &#8220;confirmed and revealed that there was absolutely no probable cause&#8221; for Barton to detain Balogh, according to the filing.</p><p>Instead, the plaintiff claims the footage shows that Balogh walked directly down the middle of the shopping aisle without approaching any of the display racks, let alone concealing any merchandise.</p><p>The suit claims Barton made up the entire story &#8220;for some reason,&#8221; but does not suggest what Barton&#8217;s alleged motives would be.</p><p>Balogh is seeking compensation from all the defendants named for allowing Barton&#8217;s alleged illegal detainment, saying Aldi and Legion Security are &#8220;vicariously liable.&#8221;</p><p>The detective is also seeking additional compensation specifically from Aldi and Legion Security, claiming they failed to &#8220;exercise responsible care in selecting, supervising, training, retaining and/or controlling&#8221; their employees.</p><p>Barton, Balogh alleges, has unlawfully stopped other customers in the same way, and the suit suggests Legion Security and Aldi should have done something to put a stop to his conduct.</p><p>Balogh is seeking an unspecified amount of compensation.</p><p>When reached for comment, he directed a reporter to speak with Tunis. However, Tunis did not immediately respond.</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Balogh </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/web1_Cyber1cmyk.jpeg-1.jpg</photo0><caption0>Balogh </caption0><photoCredit0></photoCredit0></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><subheadMeta>Suit: No meritto theft claim</subheadMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Patrick Kernan</p><p>pkernan@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Patrick Kernan at 570-991-6386 or on Twitter @PatKernan</p></shirttailMeta></div>

County detective sues security guard, claiming he was falsely accused of candy theft