Suspect jailed in Berks following multi-municipality retail theft spree
Jun. 17—A Spring Township man is accused of several shoplifting incidents in Berks County this year while on parole for robbery and has been sent to Berks County Prison.
Scott K. Gentile Sr., 59, of the first block of Montello Road was jailed in lieu of $10,000 bail after arraignment Tuesday night before District Judge Tonya A. Butler in Reading Central Court.
Arrest details were unavailable.
On Jan 24 about 4 p.m., Exeter Township police were dispatched for a retail theft at the Giant Food store in the Exeter Commons shopping center along Perkiomen Avenue.
A store employee showed a video of the suspect, described as an older white man with a neatly trimmed beard, wearing a gray basement cap, black winter coat and blue jeans.
The video showed the man placing frozen shrimp, steaks and other meats and soft drinks into a shopping cart that he pushed out of the store, bypassing all points of sale. The groceries had a combined retail value of $388.
A few days later, the investigator received a call from a security employee at the nearby Target store. He had seen Exeter police's Facebook post that displayed an image of the then-unidentified suspect, and said the same man stole multiple items from his store over several days.
Investigators compared security camera images of the suspect with various photos in a law enforcement data base and preliminarily identified him as Gentile, who was wanted by state parole agents for violating his parole in a 2008 robbery conviction in Reading.
In Berks County Court in 2009, Gentile was given a state prison sentence of eight to 20 years.
Two parole agents confirmed the images of the suspect were that of Gentile. Exeter police obtained an arrest warrant for Gentile, but he couldn't be found.
Meanwhile, Gentile continued to shoplift at various stores in the eastern and southern parts of Berks and in western Montgomery County this spring.
On April 22, Exeter police said his theft spree circled back to the Giant in Exeter. He stole merchandise valued at a total of $375.
Court records indicate that Cumru Township police and Caernarvon Township police charged him for retail thefts that occurred April 12 and May 22.
Pottstown police arrested him after a reported shoplifting incident on May 30.
According to the records, he was jailed at Montgomery County Correctional Facility to await a hearing on charges of retail theft, receiving stolen property and disorderly conduct, but the prosecutors withdrew the theft-related charges at his June 7 preliminary hearing, and he was released on his own recognizance.
It was unclear whether he was turned over to Berks authorities upon his release from that jail.
