A 28-year-old Odessa man was arrested Feb. 23 after video surveillance caught him tackling a liquor store clerk while stealing a 750 milliliter bottle of Buchanan’s Master Blended Scotch Whiskey.
According to an Odessa Police Department report, dispatchers received a 911 call from WB Liquors on East 42nd Street around 2:45 p.m. informing them a suspected thief was being held down after assaulting an employee.
When officers arrived, they found Jorge Aaron Gardea pinned to the ground by a man who said he ran after Gardea after seeing him assault an employee who tried to stop him from leaving the store with the liquor bottle, the report stated.
The video showed Gardea tackling one of the two women working in the store, causing her to hit the safety steel bars installed on the front door, the report stated. It further showed him running out of the store and while he was being chased, the whiskey fell out of his pocket and shattered on the ground.
Gardea was arrested on suspicion of robbery, a second-degree felony. He’s being held in the Ector County jail on a $25,000 surety bond and Immigration and Customs Enforcement hold.
