By Jim Clark

Police were dispatched to the Kmart store on Middlesex Ave. last Sunday in response to a reported case of shoplifting.

Upon arrival, officers questioned store loss prevention personnel as to the activities of the man being held.

Police were told that the suspect had been observed gathering 10 pairs of Levis jeans, of various sizes, and taking them to the garden area of the store where he allegedly hid them in a bunch of bushes, according to reports.

The suspect was then reportedly seen going back through the store and out the main entrance. As the man attempted to recover the jeans that he had allegedly secreted away in the bushes he was intercepted by store personnel and escorted back inside to await arrival of the law enforcement officers, police said.

Store employees reportedly told police that the jeans taken were valued at $249.90 in total.
The suspect, Alex Gaudette, 22, of Charlestown, was placed under arrest and charged with shoplifting over $100 by asportation