Johnny Deleon, 20, was arrested Wednesday morning on a Class B misdemeanor theft charge.
According to the Harris County Pct. 4 Constable's Office, a retired police lieutenant had just arrived at a deli in the 4700 block of Cypress Creek Parkway when he noticed Deleon holding a screwdriver and squatting down next to a newer model black Cadillac Escalade. When the officer approached him, Deleon had already taken off two hub cabs and was working on removing a third.
The officer started getting hold of Deleon, and 30 officers already inside the deli heard commotion and went outside. He was then taken into custody without incident.
Deleon later told officers that he was stealing the caps, valued at $400, to resell to other customers at his workplace.
"Had the suspect driven his vehicle a little further into the parking lot, he would have noticed a multitude of marked and unmarked police vehicles and may have chosen another path," Assistant Chief Tim Cannon said in a prepared statement. "Unfortunately for him, his zest for thievery overrode any form of common sense which placed him straight into the hands of law enforcement's finest."
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