A suspended Massachusetts State Trooper is facing criminal charges for stealing golf balls and other merchandise totaling more than $1,000 from Target stores in 2024.
Zachariah Kent, who graduated from the state police academy in October 2022, was suspended without pay effective Oct. 1, state police confirmed. Kent was named in two criminal cases filed in Worcester District Court on Friday for theft and shoplifting.
Kent, a 30-year-old from Sutton, was caught on video stealing dozens of times from Target stores in Milbury and Worcester using “skip scan,” a scheme described by police as involving paying for some items at the auto-checkout, but not pay for others, according to court documents obtained from Worcester District Court.
Stands records show Kent received $118,777 until October 5.
Merchandise stolen from a Milbury branch of Target between January and September totaled $847, according to a criminal complaint filing by Sgt. Christopher Polselli of the Milbury Police Department.
Police in Milbury were first alerted to the thefts on September 24 when the store’s Loss Prevention team arrested Kent and identified him as a suspect in 22 previous shoplifting cases, including one that day.
The other shoplifting incidents occurred at other Target stores, but 11 occurred in Milbury in 2024, Polselli wrote.
Surveillance footage captured the shoplifting incidents using the skip-scanning program. In one case at the Milbury store, the stolen merchandise was worth just $24.99. In another case, they were worth $218.45. Polselli did not provide details about the type of merchandise reported stolen from the Target in Milbury.
Kent was told by Milbury police that he would receive a summons in the mail to appear in court, and authorities charged him with theft of less than $1,200 through a single scheme. The criminal complaint was filed in Worcester District Court on December 20.
His arraignment is scheduled for February 13, 2025.
On October 22, Worcester police were informed by Target employees that Kent was suspected of several shoplifting incidents in Milbury and that he was suspected of thefts at a store on Lincoln Street in Worcester.
According to employees at Target’s Worcester location, Kent stole golf balls three times in April and June, totaling $204.96.
In this case, he was charged with three counts of shoplifting by asportation. Both arraignments are scheduled for February 13. The Milbury Police Department’s criminal complaint was filed on Oct. 1 and the Worcester Police Department’s was filed on Oct. 22.
The criminal charges were filed after a court clerk found probable cause during a hearing last week, the Worcester Telegram & Gazette reported. reported. The newspaper reported that an initial hearing with the clerk in November was postponed because Kent was attending a “residential treatment program” in Florida.
“The Massachusetts State Police will not tolerate theft or dishonesty, and we hold our members accountable to the highest professional standards,” the agency said in a statement.
“When these disturbing allegations came to our attention, the department immediately dismissed the accused soldier from duty, opened an internal affairs investigation and suspended him without pay following his duty status hearing. We remain fully committed to cooperating with investigators as we await the outcome of the criminal proceedings,” state police said.
A state police spokesperson said Kent has no other prior disciplinary history.
Attorney Fernando Figueroa, who represented Kent in both cases, did not immediately return a request for comment.