In court papers filed by Sager, Oesterling, of Amity Township, asked a judge to dismiss the charges and to re-examine the previous decision by a district court judge, who ordered Oesterling to stand trial.
Senior Judge Kent Albright was scheduled to hold a hearing on the request on Tuesday but Oesterling, a 12-year veteran corporal of the police force who was fired by Amity Township supervisors last week, left the courthouse without a resolution when the hearing was postponed.
Oesterling potentially faces two to four years in prison if convicted of the charges. He was charged by West Pottsgrove police in July in connection with two alleged incidents of retail theft and initially was suspended from the Amity police force without pay. However, last week, the township supervisors unanimously voted to fire him.
With the charges, authorities alleged Oesterling walked out of the Upland Square Giant on both June 12 and June 18 without paying for merchandise he placed into blue, reusable shopping bags in the shopping cart he was pushing.
According to a criminal complaint, a loss prevention officer with Giant observed a man leave the store on June 12 without paying for six items worth $38.04 in the reusable bags.
The loss prevention officer used store surveillance footage to confirm what the items were and that the man bypassed all points of sale, according to the criminal complaint. In the footage, the suspect was observed pushing a shopping cart with a child’s car attachment on the front and three small children riding on the cart in different positions, according to court papers.
Following that incident, the loss prevention officer printed photos of the man and “placed them in the office for review by other loss prevention officers,” according to the criminal complaint filed by West Pottsgrove Police Officer Joseph Ray Buchert.
Almost a week later, on June 18, another loss prevention officer observed a man, matching the description of the person captured in the June 12 photos enter the store. The man was pushing a cart with the same three children in the same type of cart with blue reusable grocery bags, court papers alleged.
The loss prevention officer followed the man, later identified as Oesterling, around the store as he allegedly placed items into the reusable bags.
After moving toward the service desk, “the defendant then bypassed all points of sale and then exited the store,” the loss prevention officer told police, according to authorities.
The loss prevention officer stopped Oesterling in the store vestibule, where “the defendant then identified himself as a ‘cop,’” according to the complaint.
West Pottsgrove Police responded and the loss prevention officer alleged there were 53 store items totaling $296.35 in Oesterling’s possession.
