Men Accused of Shoplifting $18K of Groceries From Hip Brooklyn Food Coop

When members of the Park Slope Food Coop thumbed through its most recent newsletter, their eyes might've caught a surprising paragraph in the bottom corner of Page 3. Before they even read the letter to the editor complaining about the coop's wasteful single-serving cream cheese containers or the advertisement for the upcoming Vegan Snack-Making for Kids class, they would've seen an announcement that two of the coop's members had been arrested for the theft of an estimated $18,000 worth of groceries last year. Guys, that is so much organic kabocha squash.

Yes, we call the police when people shoplift. https://t.co/NcCP5NX9TD

— ParkSlopeFoodCoop (@foodcoop) January 4, 2017

Coop general coordinator Joe Holtz told Gothamist that the two suspects—a 79-year-old man and a 42-year-old man, both from Brooklyn—were reported by their fellow coop members after they seemed to only pay for a handful of the items they'd stacked in their shopping carts. The coop quietly kept its (organic, free range) eye on the pair, and stopped them on separate occasions in late November and December after they each tried to pull off their scheme again.

According to Gothamist, one of the alleged thieves had $87 worth of merch in his shopping bags, but he'd only paid for $2 bucks worth. Both men were charged with petit larceny and the younger man is facing a charge of possession of stolen property as well. To determine how much the men stole during the course of the year, Holtz reviewed records of their visits to the store and scrolled through security camera footage of their trips up and down the aisles. (And if there's a worse scenario than having to watch a video of someone debating between two bunches of lacinato kale, I don't know what it is). Holtz argues that it's not just that the men swiped $18,000 worth of merchandise from the store's shelves last year, it's about what that kind of continued theft could mean for the coop itself.

"Yes, we call the police when people shoplift," the coop posted on Twitter. It did in this case, although it doesn't always. The coop has its own internal disciplinary committee, made up of its own version of judges, attorneys and juries, which it refers to as "hearing and deciding groups." Some shoplifters are tried in this internal but not-exactly-informal court, as are vandals, members who "falsify work records" and those who allow non-members to shop at the coop.

The Wall Street Journal reports that, in its most recent disciplinary hearing, four members were found guilty of "disrupting or obstructing Coop activities" after they engaged in a heated debate about whether the coop should boycott Israeli-made products, due to Israel's continued occupation of Palestine. The four were sentenced to a one-year ban from the premises.

The Park Slope Food Coop currently has more than 17,000 members, who are each required to work a two-hour-and-45-minute shift at the store every month. In exchange for their work, they are allowed to shop the shelves they might've just stocked, saving between 20 and 40 percent on their groceries.

MUNCHIES has reached out to the coop for comment, but has not yet received a response.