Man Uses Kroger Shopping Bags to Steal Publix Groceries

If you pull out a Kroger bag at Publix, you might get some notice.

If you stuff $600 worth of groceries into those bags and try leaving the store without paying, the police are going to come looking for you.

Gwinnett County Police are looking for a man who tried just that at a Publix store located at 3200 Holcomb Bridge Road on Monday, Feb. 17.

According to the incident report, a man was seen by employees in Aisle 10 “loading up Kroger shopping bags with $601.15 worth of groceries” and filling the shopping cart.

He attempted to roll the cart past the cashiers and out the door, but when an employee called to him, he took off running and sped away in a silver car.

Based on cross-checking the tag number, jail records and his physical description — older black male, medium build, between 5 foot 7 and 5 foot 9 in height — police have identified a person of interest. That suspect had been served a warrant by the Gwinnett County Sheriff’s Department just a few days earlier.

Publix’s surveillance camera was not able to show the shoplifter’s face, so there wasn’t a positive ID. The store was asked to call police when it’s able to find a camera angle showing the man’s face.