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Veteran
Judge orders suspended state trooper to stay away from Target stores
12/23/24
WESTBOROUGH ― A state trooper, who has been suspended without pay over allegations of repeated shoplifting, was recently ordered to stay away from all Target stores.
Zachariah F. Kent, 30, of Sutton, was arraigned Dec. 19 in Westborough District Court on five counts of shoplifting, all allegedly committed at the Target on 330 Turnpike Road (Route 9) in Westborough.
In all, Kent is suspected of more than 22 shoplifting incidents from Target stores in Westborough, Millbury, Worcester and Milford.
In five separate incidents over seven months at the Westborough Target, Kent allegedly walked through self-checkout and did not scan certain items, mainly golf balls, totaling $236.43, according to a statement of facts prepared by Lt. Joshua Croft of the Westborough Police Department.
According to the statement of facts, at 2:30 p.m. Jan. 1, Kent selected two 12-packs of Titleist Pro V1X golf balls and a 22 oz. tub of Ghost Protein Powder Chips Ahoy flavor from the sporting goods section, but only scanned one of the packs of the golf balls, resulting in a total loss of $84.98 for Target.
At 12:06 p.m. March 30, Croft wrote, Kent selected two boxes of TaylorMade Tour Response Stripe golf balls priced at $42.99 each and a box of Titleist golf balls priced at $24.99 but didn’t scanned one of the boxes of Taylor Made balls.
At 2:17 p.m. April 5, the statement of facts said, Kent selected two boxes of Bridgestone Tour-B RX Reactive golf balls priced at $39.99 each, but only scanned one box.
At 2:54 p.m. June 28, Croft wrote, Kent selected two boxes of Callaway HEX Warbird golf balls at $20.49 each and two boxes of Bridgestone E6 golf balls priced at $24.99, but only scanned one box of each, resulting in a total loss of $45.48 for Target.
And at 4 p.m. July 8, Croft wrote, Kent selected a four-pack of Gillette ProGlide Shield razor blade refills along with several other items, but doesn’t scan the razor blade refills for a total loss of $22.99.
Judge Jennifer A. Stark entered a plea of not guilty on the defendant’s behalf on all charges.
Kent was released on personal recognizance with the pretrial condition that he stays away from all and all Target stores. He is due back in Westborough District Court on Feb. 25 for a pretrial hearing.
He is also scheduled for arraignment on four misdemeanor charges – larceny under $1,200 by single scheme, and three counts of shoplifting – Feb. 13 in Worcester District Court.
A state police spokesman told the Telegram & Gazette over the weekend that Kent was suspended without pay on Oct. 1, a week after Kent was allegedly caught "skip-scanning" items at the Target store in Millbury. According to police, Target loss-prevention employees believe Kent had shoplifted at the Millbury store on 11 previous occasions.
Later in October, the Target on Lincoln Street in Worcester contacted police after identifying Kent stealing golf balls from that store on three separate dates.
Kent had made more than $118,000 in 2024 before his suspension, according to state payroll records, and more than $124,000 in 2023.
Kent's lawyer, Fernando Figueroa of the Worcester firm Eden Rafferty, declined to comment
.*Will update with pics/video as they go up
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