A second-year state trooper is facing criminal charges after Target caught him shoplifting more than $1,000 worth of merchandise, including golf balls, from stores in Millbury and Worcester in 2024, police say.
Zachariah F. Kent, 30, of Sutton, has been suspended without pay, state police confirmed to the Telegram & Gazette, after police said he was caught in video theft more than a dozen times.
Kent used the “skip scan” method — in which a person pays for some items at the self-checkout while not paying for others — undetected for months, according to documents filed Friday in Central District Court.
He was caught red-handed by Target Loss Prevention employees around 10 a.m. on September 24, Millbury police Sgt. Chris Polselli, who responded to the 70 Providence Turnpike store while Kent was detained.
Loss Prevention told Polselli that Kent was suspected of shoplifting at Target at least 23 times in multiple “jurisdictions,” including 11 previous times in Millbury, before he was detained.
Polselli said Kent was captured on video stealing nearly $850 by “skipping” items from Millbury in 2024, including in January, February, April, May, July and September.
Kent’s largest alleged loot — worth $218.45 — occurred on July 8, Polselli wrote, while the smallest amount stolen was $24.99 on May 28.
Polselli’s report does not identify the items that were stolen; However, Worcester police reported in a separate case in which charges were also filed Friday that Kent stole golf balls exclusively from the Target at 529 Lincoln St.
According to a statement of facts filed by Worcester Sgt. Michael Capabbianca, who owns Target, called Worcester police on Oct. 22 after identifying Kent on earlier video who also stole from their store.
Capabbianca said Target in Worcester learned Kent’s identity after he was detained at the Millbury store, and gave officers video of him “skipping” golf balls in Worcester twice in April and once in June.
According to Capabbianca, Kent stole about $205 worth of golf balls between outings. The first time he allegedly scanned and paid for one package of balls, while stealing two others. The second time, he allegedly placed a $55 pack of golf balls in a paper bag at the self-checkout and left without paying anything. The third time, he allegedly selected “numerous” items for which he paid at the self-checkout, with the exception of a $40 pack of golf balls.
Kent was not arrested in Millbury but instead summoned to the Central District Court court on criminal charges out of Millbury and later Worcester, with a court clerk finding probable cause in both cases after a 17-minute hearing this week.
As is typical in Massachusetts, such hearings are closed to the public by default, and the arraignment request only becomes public after the clerk finds a legal justification, called probable cause, to support it.
Kent is not listed in court documents as a state trooper. State police confirmed in a statement to T&G that he graduated from the state police academy in October 2022 and was suspended without pay on October 1.
“The Massachusetts State Police will not tolerate theft or dishonesty, and we hold our members accountable to the highest professional standards,” wrote state police spokesman Timothy McGuirk. service, opened an internal affairs investigation and suspended him without pay after his service status hearing.
“We remain fully committed to working with investigators as we await the outcome of the criminal proceedings.”
State police said Kent, who is listed in online state records as having been paid about $119,000 this year, has no prior disciplinary history.
Kent is scheduled to be arraigned on February 13 on four misdemeanor charges: theft under $1,200, and three counts of shoplifting.
Kent’s attorney, Fernando Figueroa of the Worcester firm Eden Rafferty, who often defends troopers, did not return a telephone message seeking comment Friday.
According to paperwork in court, an initial hearing in November, where a clerk-magistrate was to hear police requests for charges, was postponed because Kent was attending a “residential treatment program” in Florida.
This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: An MA State Police trooper accused of stealing from Target stores
