A Canadian-born illegal alien with outstanding warrants for grand theft and armed robbery was caught stealing more than $3,000 of food, booze, and lobster from Hannaford in Damariscotta.
Cristian Ariza-Padilla, 49, the culinary hand behind Ann’s Book Bistro and Koko’s Sandwich Bar, was nabbed by Damariscotta police on July 17, according to a story broken Aug. 1 by the Lincoln County News, a locally owned weekly newspaper.
According to LCN’s reporting, Ariza-Padilla is allegedly Canadian-born illegal alien, whose illegal presence in the U.S. was only uncovered after his arrest on theft charges.
The Damariscotta lugging and subsequent investigation have set the stage for the sticky-fingered chef’s potential extradition to Florida and/or deportation to the Great White North.
The chef, whose name was given by police as Ariza-Padilla, is currently being held at Two Bridges Regional Jail under a Class C theft charge.
LCN additionally reported that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has placed a detainer on Ariza-Padilla, meaning that if local law enforcement decides to cooperate with federal immigration authorities, he will be deported from the U.S.
According to LCN, Ariza-Padilla’s undoing began the morning of July 17 at Hannaford’s 469 Main St. location.
Damariscotta Police Chief Jason Warlick told the newspaper that officers were summoned after reports of a shoplifter.
Ariza-Padilla was originally fingered for a $100 five-finger discount, which he executed by outsmarting the grocery chain’s self-checkout systems.
After reviewing security footage from his other visits, however, Hannaford investigators found other instances of the illegal alien chef purloining food products, including an alleged $500 worth of frozen lobster, booze, and other upscale items.
The second discover led the local cops to upgrade is former misdemeanor charges to felony level.
“This was more than a family feast,” said Warlick, who also lauded the supermarket’s surveillance and loss prevention efforts.
Adding to the chef’s troubles, authorities uncovered an outstanding warrant from Florida for a 2018 armed robbery. Hollywood Police issued the nationwide warrant, and Volusia County Sheriff’s Office had previously booked him for grand theft in 2017.
After learning of his active warrants in Florida, the Damariscotta police charged the chef with as a “fugitive from justice,” which could result in his extradition to Florida prior to any federal removal proceedings.
Despite being lawfully admitted to the U.S. in 2016, Ariza-Padilla’s criminal records makes him subject to deportation; however, ICE will only be able to remove him from the U.S. if local courts and law enforcement decide to honor the federal detainer request.
Some large shopping chains, such as Target, have recently begun moving away from self-checkout kiosks, as they have been found to make stealing easier.
<span class="dsq-postid" data-dsqidentifier="29815 https://www.themainewire.com/?p=29815">9 Comments
If he were one of Janet’s African illegals they’d just set him up in housing and give him an extra card to go buy lobster with taxpayer money.
No surprise, this is one of those jobs that pinhead pengree says America need immigrants to do.
Please don’t get rid of self checkout because of this asshole .
Put him in jail and them deport him .
People in Damariscotta will stand in a staffed check out line for fifteen minutes just waiting to put their groceries on the conveyor . Too lazy or too stupid to checkout by themselves . There are ALWAYS huge lines waiting for service .
The self checkout is so much easier and more efficient .
Please don’t burden the good people because of the actions of this lowlife .
And Janet Mills / Lincoln County DA ……pay attention here
Don’t waste a nickel of our tax money on this creep . Not a nickel .
The longer we feed him the more he costs us .
We have spent enough all ready.
Extradite him back to to Florida .
DeSantis will know what to do with him .
Save Maine ….Vote for common sense …vote out the democrats .
The typographical and grammatical errors are so blatant that it’s difficult to ignore them. Doesn’t make Steve Robinson look very good as the Editor in Chief if he lets these types of errors get published.
How many errors do you see in this one statement, “The second discover led the local cops to upgrade is former misdemeanor charges to felony level.”
Steve Robinson, come on, man! Can’t you do any better??
Illegal Immigrants! Shoplifting the groceries that Americans just won’t shoplift!
Here’s a play right from the democrats hand book. Yes there may be some miss-edits but did you notice how stupid, lazy and whorish cackles is? You must reject her to save democracy, it’s for the children.
Now what about the business who hired an ILLEGAL? Should be some hefty fines for this. Did he have a stolen SS# or was he paid under the table. Come on Maine Wire finish the story.
Wow why is his immigration status mentioned 50 times, he’s fucking Canadian and he’s been in town for years. This is just baiting out the morons and bigots, see the comments trying to make this about politics. Trash article about a trashy person.