Shoplifter at Clinton Crossing Premium Outlets had 11-year-old accomplice

By Stan Fisher - The Register Citizen

CLINTON — A Waterbury man was using an 11-year-old child as his accomplice to steal more than $1,200 in merchandise from stores at Clinton Cross Premium Outlets, police say.

The scheme began to unravel when Michael Savage – in what police say is virtually unprecedented in their experience with shoplifters – stole an item right out of a shopper’s bag and was confronted by his victim.

The 11-year-old boy with Savage snatched the newly purchased jacket from his partner and ran off, leaving Savage in a verbal altercation with the shopper, police said.

Unfortunately for Savage, the dispute caught the attention of patrolling Clinton police Officer Jason Frey, police explained.
Savage was taken into custody after he was found with a bag containing a number of stolen items, and a tool used to remove anti-theft devices from clothing, police said.

Describing Savage as uncooperative, police said he claimed to have walked to the Route 81 shopping center from the house of a friend he had been visiting. While Savage made no mention of the 11-year-old, a search began after witnesses told police that a child had run off with the stolen jacket.

Police said they were able to contact Savage’s friend, who told them he had driven to Clinton Crossing in a red Saturn, and police eventually located the vehicle in the shopping center parking lot.

Inside, they found the child, in tears, with the stolen jacket and $1,200 worth of clothing stolen from four Clinton Crossing stores, police said. Surveillance cameras in those stores captured the pair shoplifting, police said.

Police said the boy told them he had run to the car and remained there alone after the confrontation with the shopper, police said. They said the boy was the child of a Waterbury friend of Savage, and had permission to be with him.

As far as police know, Savage had not previously used the boy to shoplift, but he himself has at least one arrest for shoplifting. The state Department of Child and Youth Services was notified of the situation and the boy taken home by his mother, police said.

Savage, 45, of 51 Madera Drive, Waterbury, was held in lieu of $50,000 bail and scheduled to appear today in Middletown Superior Court on charges of larceny; risk of injury to a minor child; possession of a shoplifting device; breach of peace and interfering with an officer.