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60 new cases of COVID-19 confirmed in Luzerne County on Tuesday

WILKES-BARRE TWP. — Not once but twice an alleged thief ran into the automatic sliding doors at Dick’s Sporting Goods when he fled the store with stolen merchandise, according to court records.

When police arrested Caliente A. Gaillard, 18, hiding near a retention pond behind a residence on Indian Creek Drive, about one-half mile away, he was wearing a pair of women’s insulated pants allegedly stolen from the sporting goods store.

According to the criminal complaint:

Gaillard entered Dick’s wearing a face mask and a hooded sweatshirt pulled over his head on Monday. Police said store security reported Gaillard was acting suspiciously inside the store.

Gaillard walked into a fitting room carrying two pairs of insulated pants and left the fitting room with only one pair. Gaillard picked up a jacket and ran out of store colliding with the automatic sliding doors that were knocked off their tracks, the complaint says.

A short time later, Gaillard returned to Dick’s where a store employee confronted him. Gaillard ran out of the store and again, collided with the automatic sliding doors.

Police said Gaillard ran towards a wooded area behind Outback Steakhouse toward Wilkeswood Apartments where he entered a fenced-in area and laid down near a swimming pool and a retention pond, the complaint says.

When Gaillard was arrested, he was allegedly wearing a pair of women’s insulated pants and a pair of jeans inside-out was found next to him. A jacket with an anti-theft security device was also found near Gaillard, police allege.

Police said Gaillard was forbidden from entering Dick’s due to an incident in May 2019.

After Gaillard was transported to township police headquarters, police said he refused to remove the stolen women’s insulated pants and struggled with three officers, the complaint says.

Police allege it took three officers to handcuff Gaillard and the stolen insulated pants had to be physically retrieved from his body.

Gaillard was arraigned Tuesday by District Judge Alexandra Kokura Kravitz in Luzerne County Central Court on charges of receiving stolen property, resisting arrest, criminal trespass, defiant trespass, disorderly conduct and retail theft. He was jailed at the county correctional facility for lack of $10,000 bail.

Police said the value of the insulated pants was $69.98 and the jacket was $149.99, for a total value of $219.97.

Alleged thief returns to store twice, caught wearing stolen women’s pants