He walked out of Target with a scooter, Florida cops say — but wasn’t quite ready to roll
A shoplifting call at a Target in Northeast Florida earlier this month turned into a more serious police matter, according to the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office.
According to a Facebook news release posted Thursday, deputies went to a store in Palm Coast just after noon April 3 in response to a theft in progress.
Store security reported that a customer was seen placing a Razor brand electric scooter valued at $539.99 into a shopping cart, and “passing all points of sale without paying before exiting.”
Before entering the store, deputies spotted a man matching the suspect’s description and assembling the electric scooter in front of the store on the sidewalk, with the product’s open box beside him.
Bodycam footage accompanying the post show a shirtless man fiddling with tools on the curb.
“What’s going on, man?” asks a deputy as the suspect looks up. “I’m going to detain you for a second.”
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The suspect, later identified as Patrick Vandermeyden-Miller, 28, puts down the tools and stand ups as zip ties are placed around his wrists.
According to the arrest affidavit, Miller, who is homeless, admitted to taking the vehicle because he “needed a ride,” according to the complaint.
During a search, deputies located a red straw and small metal pipe, which was burned on one end, in the man’s right front pocket.
Through the officers’ training and experience, they determined the “items to be associated with the ingestion of illegal narcotics.”
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Miller was secured in the patrol vehicle while deputies watched the surveillance footage, which they said showed the suspect enter Target’s sporting goods section, select the scooter, place it inside his cart and exit through the grocery entrance.
The Bunnell man remains in custody on charges of petit theft and possession of drug paraphernalia; a bond hearing is set for Tuesday, according to Flagler court records.
“This dumb criminal of the week must have thought he was in another state or city where it’s OK to walk into a store and steal what you want and not face any consequences,” said Flagler Sheriff Rick Staly in a statement. “He didn’t get to ride ‘his’ Razor but he did get a free ride to the Green Roof Inn [the sheriff’s term for his jail] in the back seat of a patrol car!”
Many social media commenters under the agency’s Facebook post saw the irony of the situation.
“Sometimes they just make the law enforcement officers’ job easy.”
“I guess it’s true what they say ... Suspects are caught because they always come back to the scene of the crime ... in this case, this one never even left.
“Get away vehicle. Some assembly required.”
