Man tries, but fails, to use brother’s identity to avoid shoplifting charge

Back in January a man was stopped by store security at the Rite-Aid store in the 500 block of Penn Avenue in West Reading after the guard saw him put a bar of soap, a “snore stop,” a wristband and some chocolates into his pocket. When a borough police officer arrived the suspect identified himself and the officer found he had no prior criminal record.

That was because the man gave his brother’s name. The brother, who received an unexpected summons for fingerprinting, showed police a photo of his sibling. The officer recognized the photo as the Rite-Aid shoplifter. The man who tried to steal $40 in merchandise was charged Dec. 21 with retail theft, providing false ID and identity theft. When his brother went to police the suspect was already in jail, having pleaded guilty on another retail theft charge.