Shoplifter who stole millions along with his MOM and was known in prison as Toys R Us reveals the tricks of his trade
- Michael Pollara, 46, has elegantly collected over $1 million dollars in merchandise along with his mother as a sidekick
- Pollara has also managed to travel to 25 countries, though he claims he’s used ‘travel points’ to surface the globe rather than stolen goods
- ‘Either it’s on you, either, if you’re a female, it’s in the purse, either it’s in a bag or it’s in a shopping cart or it’s in a box,’ Pollara says of shoplifting
A shoplifter from Florida collected over $1 million in merchandise and after serving two years in jail he’s now free to unremorsefully unwrap the secrets of his trade.
Michael Pollara, 46, would go to Toys R’ us, pharmaceutical stores, department stores, and shopping mall specialty stores and stuff merchandise into bigger product boxes along with his mother who served as his accomplice.
ABC reports that Pollara also managed to travel to 25 countries, though he claims he’s used ‘travel points’ to surface the globe rather than stolen goods.
Secrets of the trade: Michael Pollara’s signature shoplifting move is to take a box and empty the contents and then fill it up with expensive items
Team Pollara: Pollara would go to Toys R’ us, pharmaceutical stores, department stores, and shopping mall specialty stores with his mother as his accomplice
Pollara admitted to taking the loot to criminals who traffic stolen goods called ‘fences’ and also sold items on eBay.
‘There’s only five methods,’ he said of shoplifting as he rocked back and forth in his seat.
‘Either it’s on you, either, if you’re a female, it’s in the purse, either it’s in a bag or it’s in a shopping cart or it’s in a box.’
He’d then purchase the box, sometimes after buying a wet bottle of water, and put the box in the bag while the cashier was wiping his or her hands.
Pollara’s mistake was using the same customer cards when he went shoplifting and that lead to Toys R’ us building a case against him.
The loot: Merchandise stolen by Michael Pollara and displayed by Broward Sheriffs Office’s Facebook
The method: Pollara explains how he would stuff expensive items in inexpensive toy boxes then buy the toy with the several stolen items inside
Sgt. Rich Rossman of the Broward County Sheriff’s Office followed Pollara on a shoplifting spree in August 2012 that spanned over more than 20 Florida stores.
‘He was up bright and early and stole from dawn to the evening hours,’ Rossman said.
‘I had to call the wife and say, ‘I don’t know when I’m coming home.’
After his 2012 arrest he served about two years in jail and confessed to stealing ‘a whole store full’ of goods from Toys R’ US in an 11-year period .
‘My nickname in jail– everyone has a jail name, I mean, they don’t call you ‘Michael.’ So you could assume what my nickname was. I was ‘Toys “R” Us,’’ Pollara said.
Pollara’s mother was not jailed but was put on probation.
Pollara is happy he’s free but won’t say where, especially what stores, he spends his time in.
“I can’t tell those because, you don’t know, I might be in those,’ he said with a sly smirk.
Confessing: After being arrested in 2012 by Police Pollara confessed to being a serial shoplifter and looting stores in all 50 states in America
Still by his side: Pollara’s mother helped him steal goods from stores for 11 years all over the country
Sourced from www.dailymail.co.uk/
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