Two people were arrested for stealing more than $40,000 worth of retail merchandise after a wild foot chase through a New Hampshire mall that wound up with one of the suspects being Tasered by police.
Hector W. Arroyo, 49, and Jeyson Luis Perez, 32, both of Lawrence, Massachusetts, are each facing more than 20 charges in connection with what police said was a months-long investigation into a shoplifting spree at the Mall at Rockingham Park and other retail stores in Salem.
According to police, a Salem officer working a private detail at the mall on Dec. 26 saw two men who he knew had active arrest warrants.
The officer approached one suspect and quickly took him into custody. But as he approached the second suspect, the man fled on foot into the mall. The officer gave chase and after a struggle in which he deployed his Taser, the second suspect was also taken into custody.
Salem police said they had been investigating a series of thefts from Macy's, Microsoft and several other retail stores in town for several months. The total amount of the reported thefts attributed to the two suspects is about $41,000. Police did not say what type of merchandise that was stolen.
On nearly every occasion, police said the men were seen on security footage removing items from the premises of the store in question. In many of the thefts the men quickly entered the stores, selected merchandise and fled on foot to a waiting vehicle. Most of the thefts lasted only seconds and the suspects were gone before police were notified.
The suspects wore similar clothing in many of the thefts and were readily recognizable, but until recently police said they did not have a positive identification.
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The two suspects -- Arroyo and Perez -- were scheduled to be arraigned Thursday in Rockingham County Superior Court in Brentwood.
Both men are charged with 10 counts of willful concealment and 11 counts of organized retail crime. Arroyo is also charged with one count of resisting arrest/detention.
