LEOMISNTER — On Saturday, Jan. 24, 2026, Officer Timothy Galvin of the Leominster Police Department was dispatched to the Kohl’s located at 10 Orchard Hill Park Drive following a report of a shoplifting in progress.
(The account and quotations in this article were sourced from the printed Personnel Narrative of Officer Timothy Galvin and do not reflect any political perspective or personal opinion of News Link Live, which is strictly a business entity.)
“Upon my arrival with Officer [Nicholas] Rice, we made contact with Tony [last name redacted],” Officer Galvin said. “He is head of loss prevention.”
Officer Galvin said Tony had two people stopped at the doorway exit of the store.
“Tony stated that the female had items concealed in her purse,” Officer Galvin said, adding that he and Officer Rice then escorted the two individuals — later identified as Dennis Mojica Garcia and Tahlia Monge — into the loss prevention office.
According to police, Dennis J. Mojica Garcia, 26, and Tahlia Monge, 23, are both Worcester residents.
“I asked Tahlia to remove the items from her purse,” Officer Galvin said. “The items removed were cosmetic merchandise. I asked Tony if I could view the video footage.”
When reviewing the store’s surveillance footage, Officer Galvin said he could see Garcia placing some of the items into Monge’s purse.
“Tony also stated he observed Tahlia place some of the items as well,” Officer Galvin said. “The stolen items were in the amount of $222.06. Tony stated he has seen Dennis shoplift from the store in the past.”
Garcia and Monge were both arrested and placed in handcuffs.
Dennis J. Mojica Garcia, 26, of Worcester, was charged with:
- Shoplifting by Concealing Merchandise (3rd Offense)
Tahlia Monge, 23, of Worcester, was charged with:
- Shoplifting by Concealing Merchandise
According to Leominster police, Garcia has been found guilty of shoplifting in Worcester District Court five times since June 2019. This was Monge’s first arrest for shoplifting.
Garcia’s arraignment was scheduled for Jan. 27, 2026, in Leominster District Court. (Note: The arraignment and subsequent court dates for Monge were not provided in the documents News Link Live obtained in its FOIA request of the incident).
Following Garcia’s arraignment, he was released on personal recognizance under the condition that he stay away from the Kohl’s on Orchard Hill Park Drive.
Garcia’s next court date is a pretrial hearing scheduled for March 10, 2026.
Disclaimer: If you are wondering why the arrest in this story took place in January, that’s because I had to file FOIA request(s) to obtain the court documents. FOIAs are time-consuming.
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