AMITY — The police
officer charged with shoplifting hundreds of dollars in groceries has been
fired by the township.
Following a Local Agency Police Tenure Act Hearing on Sept.
10, the Amity Township Board of Supervisors voted unanimously on Sept. 18 to
terminate Cpl. Glenn A. Oesterling, effective immediately.
Township Solicitor Brian F. Boland said Oesterling would be
notified by certified mail.
Supervisor Richard L. Gokey was absent from the meeting.
Oesterling, a 12-year veteran of the police force, was
charged in July for two incidents of retail theft and receiving stolen
property. He was subsequently suspended without pay.
Boland said the found the evidence of the charges credible
and convincing.
Oesterling, 35, reportedly walked out of the Upland Square
Giant on both June 12 and June 18 without paying for the merchandise he
allegedly put into blue reusable shopping bags in the shopping cart he was
pushing.
According to a criminal complaint filed by West Pottsgrove
Police, a loss prevention officer with the Giantobserved 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 “bypass(ed) all points of
sale,” the complaint states.
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.
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.”
Almost a week later, on June 18, another loss prevention
officer observed a man matching 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.
The loss prevention officer followed the man, later
identified as Cpl. 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.
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.
