MARIETTA, Ga. — Police in Georgia said that in a “bizarre turn of events,” a liquor store manager who called 911 over an alleged shoplifter was arrested for armed robbery—at his own store!
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Marietta police said the incident happened on Sunday evening, when the manager of Ace Liquors on Franklin Gateway called the police over what he said was a shoplifter, our sister station WSB-TV reported.
Officers got to the store and were told by store manager Shivamkumar Patel, 31, that a man had shoplifted from them before and was back in the store.
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Police issued the accused shoplifter, 32-year-old Jeremy Minter, a criminal trespass warning and banned him from going back to the store for five years.
Minter signed the form and left without incident, police said.
An hour later, though, police were called back to the same store about an armed robbery report, and that’s when things took a turn for the “bizarre.”
When officers got into the store the second time, it was Minter who claimed to be a victim.
“Minter told officers that before they arrived to issue him the CT, Patel, and his friend, twenty-five-year-old Anil Yaganti of Marietta, held him at gunpoint inside the store and took turns searching his vehicle,” police said. “He claimed he left after signing the CT warning without realizing his handgun was missing from inside his vehicle.”
Police then questioned all three men at the store and discovered “discrepancies in the statements Patel and Yaganti made.”
Officers got a search warrant so they could review the surveillance footage and “in a surprise twist, the video confirmed Minter’s statements.”
Police said video showed Patel and Yaganti hold Minter in the store for more than 25 minutes before Patel called 911, WSB reported.
Officers found Minter’s handgun at the store and returned it to Minter. They also found the weapon Patel had brandished, saying it was a replica SIG Sauer P365 bb gun.
Patel and Yaganti were arrested and taken to the Cobb County Adult Detention Center and are being held without bond.
Patel was charged with several felonies, including:
- Aggravated assault
- Armed robbery
- Entering auto with intent to commit theft
- Kidnapping
- False imprisonment
- Possession of a firearm during commission of a crime
Yaganti also faces felonies, including:
- Aggravated assault
- Armed robbery
- Entering auto with intent to commit theft
- Kidnapping
- False imprisonment
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