SOMERVILLE — On Wednesday, June 5, 2024, at 2:28 p.m., Somerville Police Officers Patrick Barton and Salvatore Fusco were dispatched to the Nike Factory Outlet, at 300 Artisan Way, following a report of two men shoplifting with Macy’s bags.
When he arrived on scene, Officer Barton retrieved photos of the suspects from Nike’s loss prevention officer, and gave them to Officer Fusco. Officer Barton then went to Assembly Row’s Security Office to review security camera footage of the suspects with Assembly Row’s director of security.
(The account and quotations in this article were sourced from a summary of the incident written by Officer Barton in Somerville Police Department’s weekly arrest log and do not reflect any political or personal opinion of News Link Live, which is strictly a business entity.)
While Officer Barton was reviewing the security camera footage, Officer Fusco radioed in to report that he had located the suspects and was with them on a bench outside LegoLand on Assembly Row.
“I then made my way to Officer Fusco’s location and confirmed it was the same individuals from Nike’s surveillance video and observed what appeared to be several pairs of brand-new sneakers from various stores inside their large Macy’s bags,” Officer Barton said. “It should be noted that a female identified as [name redacted] was with those two parties upon my arrival, but not present during the Nike shoplifting or caught on camera.”
When it became apparent that the two suspects only spoke Spanish, an individual on scene (who was not identified in the report) offered to translate for police.
“Through [the translator], the suspects were asked if they had any receipts for the sneakers, most of which still had price stickers and price tags on them,” Officer Barton said.
The suspects were unable to provide officers with any receipts, but repeatedly reached inside their pockets and bags, despite being told to stop by the translator.
“The suspects did not listen to commands and continued to stand up from a seated position, change their stance and the direction they faced, often looking past us to what was behind us, all while reaching into their pockets and bags,” Officer Barton said. Adding, “At this point, for Officer Safety, the parties were placed in handcuffs and frisked, yielding no weapons.”
Police located eight pairs of Adidas, Puma, and Nike brand sneakers in the suspects’ bags, and Officer Fusco returned the stolen merchandise to an employee of the Nike Factory Outlet.
“Suspect one then gave the information of ‘[name redacted] – D.O.B. [date redacted]’ which yielded no results via CJIS [the FBI’s Criminal Justice Information Services (CJIS) database],” Officer Barton said. “Suspect two had a social security card with the number [number redacted], which also does not yield any results in CJIS.”
The suspects were arrested and transported to the police station for booking.
While Lieutenant Michael Holland booked the suspects and Officer Kevin Henriquez translated their discussions, suspect one was identified as Jose Carvajal, 51, of 370 Maryland Street, Apt. 4 in Boston and suspect two was identified as Deimer Alvarez Betancur, 22, of 370 Maryland Street, Apt. 3 in Boston.
At the time of his arrest, Carvajal had in his possession one $90 pair of Nike sneakers, two pairs of Adidas sneakers valued at $135, and one pair of Puma sneakers worth $75.
Betancur was apprehended with one $95 pair of Nike sneakers, and three pairs of Adidas sneakers valued at $147.
Carvajal was charged with Shoplifting by Concealing Merchandise and two counts of Receiving Stolen Property -$1,200.
Betancur was charged with Shoplifting by Concealing Merchandise and Receiving Stolen Property -$1,200.
