Episode Transcript
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Jason Connell (00:01):
Whoa, just
curious. Welcome to Just curious
media. This is that's a crime.
I'm Jason Connell.
Sal Rodriguez (00:10):
And I'm Sal
Rodriguez.
Jason Connell (00:12):
All right, sound
we are back with another crime.
Sal Rodriguez (00:17):
And I don't think
we've had a crime exactly like
this. I would agree. Because I'mjust kind of baffled at the
things that people are willingto go to jail for, I guess.
Yeah,
Jason Connell (00:29):
this one's silly,
but it does deal with the place
that we have covered before. Onother crimes.
Sal Rodriguez (00:37):
That's correct.
My my it probably is, I mean,I've wrestled with this in
recent weeks. My favorite retailoutlet.
Jason Connell (00:44):
Okay. Also your
home away from home.
Sal Rodriguez (00:47):
I do love Target.
I don't know why. You know what?
Jason Connell (00:49):
They don't do too
much away. Okay,
Sal Rodriguez (00:51):
fine. They got me
with the decor they did those
guys.
Jason Connell (00:55):
Because today
we're breaking down the True
Crime Story of police wrestleand arrest target TV thief in
2023. So a lot to unpackyourself doesn't sound like a
heavier darker crime. This isdefinitely on the misdemeanor,
you know, spectrum for us. Butwe do come back to target on a
(01:21):
regular basis.
Sal Rodriguez (01:23):
It Jason it's
almost like Target is becoming
the new Walmart is what isThat's exactly
Jason Connell (01:27):
true. And in
fact, I happened to bring up
your social media the other day,what I don't know what happened.
You popped up and I was in sothis is so funny. This is so
onpoint one of your last postwas I'm an idiot. I'm so dumb.
I'm wearing red at Target.
That's Rodriguez. Right? So younoticed you're wearing red
(01:47):
because I'm assuming employeeswear red? Is that what was going
on there? And then people are anemployee?
Sal Rodriguez (01:55):
Yeah. Someone had
just asked me for their help for
help with something. You know,Do you work here? And I was
like, No, I don't work here. Butand that's happened before I
have made the mistake of wearingred at Target. I don't recommend
it. Unless you want to have agood time. Some people can have
a good time with that. Maybe.
But if you were ready to targetbe prepared.
Jason Connell (02:14):
Yeah, that's like
back in the day. Actually, I
worked at Blockbuster. But ifyou ever walked into a
blockbuster with khakis, and ablue knit shirt on, hey, excuse
me. I was curious about this newSchwarzenegger movie. No, I'm
just here to get a movie.
Sal Rodriguez (02:30):
I just dressed
like this. Normally, our
Jason Connell (02:32):
Best Buy has a
very similar attire. blue or
green. It's a lighter blue oryou know shirt, not navy.
Sal Rodriguez (02:40):
Because nobody
wears anymore. He can't be like
always wearing a vest. Like Idon't think anybody wears vests
anymore. Do they? Hope they weresort of an orange vest at home.
Yeah,
Jason Connell (02:47):
they gotta stand
out. Yeah, they're gonna stand
up from the ground. And alsobecause there's lots of things
going on around you know,dangerous things. forklifts and
whatnot. Okay, so let's diveinto this. TV thief. Okay. Yep.
On August 7 2023. A boldshoplifter targeted a Target
(03:09):
store. Nice wink wink, no
Sal Rodriguez (03:11):
better place to
target them at Target. And
Jason Connell (03:14):
Atlanta, Georgia,
prompting a call to the police.
The security guard on siteflagged down arriving officers
notifying them that the malesuspect who had stolen a
television had returned to takea more expensive one. That's
Sal Rodriguez (03:34):
what they say
Jason if somebody commits a
crime somewhere like let's sayif somebody were to heaven
forbid, Rob anyone's home, youknow, our home our listeners
home? Yeah, if somebody Rosssuccessfully robbed your home,
they say there is a big chancethey're going to be back.
Jason Connell (03:48):
Again after Yes.
Finish everything. There you
Sal Rodriguez (03:51):
go. So somebody
successfully robs a target.
Yeah, they're probably going tocome back.
Jason Connell (03:56):
But I have a
couple of questions. Yeah,
follow up questions, because allthe information we have is here
and we're don't have some ofthis stuff. Yeah. Did he steal a
TV that day? Is he bringing backthe TV he's stolen? Said I got
the wrong size. We don't have areceipt, sir. No, no, no, it's
not like that. I just stole thisbut I have wanted the 70 that
(04:18):
No, I didn't happen. So if hestole a TV and he came back they
spotted him right away. I justhave a lot of follow ups to
this.
Sal Rodriguez (04:26):
Well also this
could fall under the category of
world's Dumbest Criminalsbecause theoretically, way the
first time Yeah, yeah. did get adifferent target. How about that
a different target in adifferent county? How about
that? No. He's what happens toif you follow true crime, serial
killers, they get sloppy.
Criminals get sloppy, so anybodyelse's crimes. Yeah, look out,
(04:46):
keep your cross your t's dotyour i's.
Jason Connell (04:51):
He skated right
out with the first one. You
know, sometimes if you buy abunch of I don't know how it
works. I know that when youleave these stores and I use it
to happen at Costco Oh, but nowit definitely happens at Best
Buy and I don't know abouttarget but you know best buy for
sure. They look okay your staffthey kind of look at your
receipt they do like a doublecheck after you've already paid
(05:12):
right? What is target? Do you'rethe target expert? No, they
don't. They're not there todouble check. No, theoretically,
you could pay bear with me. Payfor whatever you got. Have
another cart adjacent waitingfor you with an old Telly in it.
And then push both cards rightout the you know the front door.
(05:33):
There's this less security lessof a checks and balances at the
front door.
Sal Rodriguez (05:38):
We know you can't
spell adjacent without a Jason.
Hello. Oh my gosh, it dependingon what store you're at. Jason,
you got Ross, you got a target.
You got Walmart, you got BestBuy. Okay, Best Buy as soon as
you walk in. Yeah, the lossprevention person right there.
Look at these greens. On the wayout. When you walk into Ross, I
don't know if they have rasa ifall of our listeners have the
(05:59):
pleasure of shopping at a Ross.
But I've even went to Ross inLas Vegas. As soon as you walk
into Ross, you are greeted bythe guy with a vest that says
loss prevention on it. They letyou know right away. Hello
there. Do not steal. That's thefirst thing.
Jason Connell (06:18):
Yeah being
filmed.
Sal Rodriguez (06:19):
I would say of
all of them of all the stores
mentioned, Target has probablymost lacks methods of dealing
with shoplifting. Definitely notan in your face approach.
Jason Connell (06:29):
So I see a direct
correlation to the number of
target episodes we have. That'sa crime now. Now I understand
why that is a security lapse. Sowhich is
Sal Rodriguez (06:41):
strange because
we always thought Okay, so in
high school, I had a friend thatworked at Target. And at the
time, there were undercoverofficers in target. Wow. Anybody
remember? How old am I?
Undercover security? You don'tknow the security? They're not
wearing the uniform. But theyare undercover security watching
you target us to have that. Fakeshopping, right? Yeah, exactly.
(07:02):
Shop Now we need to recognizethese guys because they would
generally have sight of sort oftighter fitting jeans. Tapered
at the bottom running shoes thatalways have running shoes. Yeah,
fanny pack. Yeah. So we knew asa juvenile delinquent, we knew
what to look for. So we knewGuess what? Don't steal from
Target. They have undercoversecurity guards. I don't think
(07:22):
they have many more.
Jason Connell (07:25):
Yeah, obviously
not. Alright, so back to this TV
thief. Nameless TV thief. Yes,as officers initiated a search
for the suspect because now he'sfleed. They encountered him
leaving the store with thepilfered television. So he got
out of the store with the secondTV the one he the other one he
(07:46):
wanted to get and that it wasbalanced atop a shopping cart
back to my what I was talkingabout. He's got this little
system and altercation ensued asthe suspect grappled with an
officer for several minutes inthe parking lot Sal, you and I
both watched this video I wasgonna show up, but it was just
(08:07):
so much shaky as like the BlairWitch Project. I didn't want our
audience getting sick. It wasjust too much motion. But it was
two guys. I couldn't even makethem out wrestling on the
ground. Lots of shouting, whichwe're going to talk about. But
so what did you think I couldn'teven tell who was winning that
grappling wrestling match?
Sal Rodriguez (08:25):
No, you know
what, as I watched this
grappling match that occurred onthe ground in the parking lot at
the target as an MMA fan. As aUFC fan. As a martial arts fan.
I'm looking at two guysgrappling on the floor. It's
almost like a Brazilian JiuJitsu match. And at the same
time, I'm kind of impressed bythe suspect and unimpressed by
(08:46):
the cop. Because a cop isgrappling with a suspect. And
they're kind of neutralizingeach other. And then the
funniest part Chase and here'sthe funniest part. As this is
happening as a cop and a suspectare wrestling on the ground. You
have target employee carryingthat long train that long
(09:08):
centipede of cards. Yes. Rightby not even batting an eyelash.
It's like all of the day's workhere at Target.
Jason Connell (09:16):
Exactly. That's
so funny. It reminds me of David
Spade when I used to see himdoing stand up actually he came
to Oklahoma State when he wasearly in his career. And he kind
of give a rendition of a guylike he never watched cops Bad
Boys cops and it's like, it'salways like white guy. shorts on
no shirt or wife beater and thisis the best part SYG in his
(09:40):
mouth. Not shocked that cops arein his house. That was always
the best like Oh, you guys arehere again. Same kind of
reaction from the guy with thecentipede of cards like oh my
gosh, another wrestling matchwith with an employee dot
employee sorry with a customerThief amongst us so hilarious. I
(10:04):
love that tidbit there. So amidthe struggle, this classic fight
in which the assailant isgetting the best of the officer,
the suspect repeatedly shoutedthat he hadn't intended for this
and expressed his strongaversion to ending up in jail.
And you hear this clearly on thevideo sound please give your
(10:26):
best imitation of this TV thief.
I
Unknown (10:30):
didn't mean it. I don't
want to go to jail. I don't want
to go to effing jail. Please,stop.
Sal Rodriguez (10:37):
I need to go to
the hospital. Yeah, you brought
this upon yourself, dude. It'slike would not have more
sympathy. If he were likestealing baby formula, right?
We'd be like, Wow, he'sstealing. Maybe we would you're
stealing a flatscreen. Dude,have you stolen one already?
Second, flatscreen you alreadyknow you're being greedy is what
you're being.
Jason Connell (10:57):
But I find it
funny that he does. It didn't
mean it doesn't want to go tojail, not effing jail. And he's
like, this isn't working. Igotta go to hospital. Well,
better the hospital and theyhave to honor that. Do they have
to honor that? Or they go dothis Shut up. You're not believe
you're actually winning thiswrestling match according to Sal
Rodriguez, MMA fan? Andenthusiast. No, you know what I
(11:19):
mean? Like, why do you score theheight Sal?
Sal Rodriguez (11:22):
Jason, I'd be
like a wisecracking cop. I'd be
like, you are going to thehospital, in jail, in
Jason Connell (11:28):
jail, in jail.
Now, eventually, additionalofficers arrived. And this led
to the suspect beingapprehended, okay. And luckily,
also, this is good news. Boththe officer and suspect emerged
with only minor scrapes. Andthat's a cement. This is a
parking lot things can happen.
(11:49):
You could
Sal Rodriguez (11:49):
ask the thing
about that's the thing about
finding out there, like outsideof a ring outside of a cage
right outside of athletics orthe streets around the ground is
a dangerous thing. Very
Jason Connell (12:00):
dangerous. Also
other cars, you don't
necessarily see two guys in theway people have big SUVs. I
don't want to be in a parkinglot ever let alone on the
ground? Absolutely not. So theyescaped without serious harm
from the encounter, which isgood. And so I'm assuming the
suspect was arrested forstealing. One of the two TVs
(12:23):
definitely this TV that he justpilfered? I don't know if it was
hearsay on the first TV, but Ialso suspect that he is not
welcome at Target anymore. Atleast this one in Atlanta,
Georgia. I
Sal Rodriguez (12:37):
think it's safe
to say Jason, if you steal from
any retail chain, you are barredfor life from black chain, you
are absolutely canceled fromthat retail channel. Yeah, I
guess deservedly so, you know,how good was this TV? Was this
like the top of the line TV, youknow, when it comes to getting
the rest of it when it comes togoing to jail when it comes to
committing a crime? Choose yourcrimes wisely. If I'm gonna go
(13:00):
to jail, it's going to be forsomething good.
Jason Connell (13:03):
And if you really
did get away with it, do just
you don't need to press yourluck. Just enjoy the first
television. Honestly, you didit. You did it. He must have
been bragging or his he got homehis wife is scolded him on the
size that he got. I don't know.
Whatever.
Sal Rodriguez (13:23):
A Samsung, I
wanted a Sony what's going on
here?
Jason Connell (13:26):
I clearly said
all right. All right. So that
covers the True Crime Story ofpolice wrestle and arrest target
TV thief in 2023. So before wesign off, we've started doing
this on recent episodes of thatto crime, which is really fun.
(13:46):
And we'll probably make it amainstay until we don't. But
until we cover all of the oldepisodes, but it's to spotlight
an episode from our library ofthat's a crime because you make
an episode you put it out therein the world, people respond to
it. And then you get new fans ortime goes on and you know that
episode falls further down thechain the queue, but it doesn't
(14:08):
make it less relevant. In fact,sometimes we'll dust off on
episodes and be like, Oh mygosh, remember when like the
Wayback Machine. So we're doingthat here because this is an
episode I've pulled up that'svery fitting for this episode.
And this is episode eight teenknife yielding woman stabs for
and Target store in 2010, thedarker side of the target crimes
(14:34):
that we've covered. I
Sal Rodriguez (14:36):
don't feel safe
at Target anymore. Can I just
say, Can I walk down the aisleat Target and not look over my
shoulder anymore?
Jason Connell (14:44):
I don't know man.
Well, this is 2010 so it's alittle bit older but the reason
this is a great episode Abecause it's fantastic and
sound. I do a great job ofcovering it. But it's also a
target that we have both been tooh yes, you more recent than me
it's in West Hall. Lakewood,California, I went there several
times it was my target of choiceat that period of my life I
(15:04):
lived close by, I don't go toTarget as much as you. But this
target was one of those biggertargets and they had to grocery.
So I would go there. It's agreat area. And then I see this
crime that happened. I justdiscovered this. We recorded
this episode, actually, November24 2021. That's when I learned
about it. But I thought I'dheard something years prior. So
actually, that's not true. I didhear about it when I lived there
(15:29):
and thought, Whoa, we got to becareful with that target. And
then when we were doingepisodes, I kind of rediscovered
it. That's what happened. Soyes, you have to be careful at
targets. This was a scary one. Imean, you're going shopping
doing your thing. So Rodriguezis in the collectibles, the toy
section. And here's somebodycoming at you with a knife. I
(15:49):
mean, that's what happened here.
Not you. But that's scary, man.
Not just some guy trying tosteal a TV. So any takeaways on
this one for you? And even youknow, things that you remember
nuggets from the episode? Well,
Sal Rodriguez (16:04):
this just brings
to mind my a lot of my life. You
know, growing up in Los Angeles,as a kid, I saw a man get
stabbed on Hollywood Boulevard,right on the Walk of Fame. saw
it happen broad daylight. Okay,so that's a fast forward, I'm in
target. You're thinking targetsa safe, you're just not thinking
something like this is going tohappen in a target. Your guard
(16:27):
is down. So unfortunately, thisis a I don't know kind of a What
is it kind of jarring for me?
Because yeah, you're gonna therecould be potentially danger
everywhere you go. And that's asad state of affairs and a sad
state of our society. So yeah,good episode though. I'm proud
of our episode. I did enjoy ourepisode. But yeah, look out
folks. Even in target. Keep keeplooking over your shoulder.
(16:49):
Yeah,
Jason Connell (16:51):
look after those
stabbing sprees. Very scary.
Sal Rodriguez (16:55):
And if you're
going to steal a TV, make it a
good one. Yeah.
Jason Connell (16:58):
And don't go back
for the second one. Tap
Sal Rodriguez (17:01):
out. Yeah, yeah,
be happy. So
Jason Connell (17:04):
thank you so much
for listening. And please be
sure to subscribe to the that'sa crime podcast and the that's a
crime YouTube Live Channel. Youcan also really help us by
giving the show a five starrating on Apple podcast,
Sal Rodriguez (17:18):
and for all your
listeners and enjoy sharing your
thoughts. You can leave us areview on Apple podcasts, send
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Jason Connell (17:27):
We also highly
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