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DALLAS — A Wilkes-Barre man who served time in state prison after stealing seafood and meat from grocery stores was arrested again for allegedly swiping steaks, lobster tails and shrimp from Weis Markets on Monday night.
Borough police say Albano Cunha Dasilva, 49, of George Avenue, shoved a shopping cart into Bradley Reed, an assistant store manager, and fought with store manager Carmine Lupio when he was confronted outside. During a struggle with the managers, cases of soda were knocked over, police said.
Court records say Dasilva has nine arrests for retail thefts in connection to stealing steaks and seafood from grocery stores in Wilkes-Barre and Wilkes-Barre Township from 2011 to 2014. Dasilva was initially sentenced to 16 months on probation in November 2013, but violations due to repeated arrests for retail thefts resulted in him being re-sentenced in December 2014 to 16 to 32 months in state prison, court records say.
According to the criminal complaint from Monday’s incident:
Police responded to Weis Markets on Memorial Highway for a fight between a shoplifter and store managers. When officers arrived, Reed and Lupio were struggling with Dasilva.
Reed and Lupio said Dasilva entered the store at about 6:18 p.m. and filled a shopping cart with toilet paper, six boneless steaks, a rib eye steak, two New York strip steaks, four lobster tails and four packs of shrimp. The items totaled $342.
Dasilva pushed the cart and waited near the entrance doors until another customer entered. When the doors opened, Dasilva pushed the cart outside, where Reed and Lupio confronted him.
Dasilva was asked to show his receipt. Instead, he rammed the shopping cart into Reed.
Lupio told police he “bear-hugged” Dasilva, who struggled to get free, kicking Reed and knocking over several cases of soda.
Police said customers were recorded by a surveillance camera running from the scene.
Dasilva smelled of alcohol and had trouble keeping his balance.
Dasilva was arraigned Wednesday by District Judge Thomas Malloy in Luzerne County Central Court on charges of retail theft, harassment, disorderly conduct and public drunkenness. He was released on $10,000 unsecured bail.