Beware looking suspicious at ABC

By Deborah Wiig
The Metropolitan

Not everyone who gets stopped for shoplifting at the Auraria Book Center is guilty of theft. Two students, held for questioning at the bookstore, were able to prove their innocence, but only after one of them assaulted a store security employee.

Campus police questioned six people about shoplifting in the campus bookstore from Jan. 12 to Jan. 22.
Of this group, two were arrested, two were ordered to court, and two were released.

One woman, who was later released, refused to show her receipt to Raymond Croft, a temporary bookstore employee stationed at the doors on Jan. 19. Police did not identify her because she not was charged.

ãShe said, ÎI donât have to show you my receipt.â I said, ÎIâm sorry, but you do.â And then she took off down the hall,ä Croft said.

Croft then summoned a bookstore security employee who followed the woman, and asked for her receipt. Things got ugly after that.

ãShe struck him over the head with a book,ä said Campus Police Staff Sergeant Greg Stahl. ãShe was screaming and yelling. I told her we would not tolerate violence. She left angry, saying she was going to call the campus newspapers.

ãI asked the store security employee if he wanted to press charges, but he declined, saying it came with the job.ä
People werenât allowed to bring their bags into the bookstore until two years ago.

Bookstore Director Ed Schlichen-mayer said employees will only question shoppers if they have observed suspicious activity, such as something being taken in or out of a bag.

ãThe city ordinance on shoplifting refers to intent and contains nothing about having to exit the store to be shoplifting,ä said campus Police Chief Joseph Ortiz.

ãThey canât arbitrarily stop someone. Theyâd better be sure the elements of the ordinance are met, or we will not take action. But the store has a vested interest and a right to ask for a receipt. The courts have held that it is reasonable.ä

Metro student Lynn A. Martin, 43, was detained Jan. 16 in the bookstoreâs security office when she could not produce a receipt for a book sheâd already purchased.

She was later released.

The confusion began when Martin took books out of her bag and laid them on the floor with others from the shelf. She wanted to make sure she had everything for her classes, she said.

After she put her books back in her bag and approached the cashier with her new purchases, a security employee asked to see her receipts for books in her bag. Martin raised the employeeâs curiosity after he saw her put books in her bag.

She had receipts for all but two, explaining that one was a professorâs book and the receipt for the other book was at home.

Martin said the employee would not verify her story with her professor or check with another bookstore worker who had helped her find the new books she needed. The security employee then told Martin that a warrant would be issued for her arrest if she did not show her receipt within one week.

ãThatâs when I became unhinged,ä she said. ãI was stressed out and crying.ä
Store personnel then found a computer records showing that Martin had previously bought one of the books with a credit card and that the other was not in the bookstoreâs inventory. A bookstore employee then came in to apologize to Martin and let her go.

Ortiz said he has advised bookstore officials to train employees to be careful and respectful, but shoppers also can prevent problems before they happen.

ãDonât put yourself in a position of appearing to be shoplifting,ä he said.  ãUse the lockers, or keep bags closed.ä