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The incident took place around 2:30 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 10 at Trader Joe's at 436 Post Road.
The Darien detective was aware of numerous thefts of wallets occurring at Trader Joe's in Darien and others in surrounding towns and was looking for suspicious activity, said Sgt. Dan Skoumbros, of the Darien Police.
While sitting in the parking lot he spotted two men walking from Post Road and entering the store. The detective entered the store and watched the two pretending to shop.
One of the men, later identified as Jose Acuna-Penagos, age 39, of Queens, was observed looking into a woman's purse. The detective left the store, watched the two men leave the store quickly, and then crossed Post Road to a vehicle that was parked on Oberlander Place, Skoumbros said.
The men did not notice the detective who then saw the males taking off their jackets and hat.
The men then walked separately across the Post Road and back towards Trader Joe's. At this time the female shopper from earlier exited the store with an employee, police said
The detective saw the men gesture toward each other to leave and as they entered their vehicle he turned on his lights and siren but the two men disregarded his effort to pull them over and drove down Oberlander Place which is a dead-end leading to a parking lot, Skoumbros said.
Both men exited the vehicle and Acuna-Penagos began to walk away from the detective ignoring his commands. The passenger, Johan Barrera-Munoz, age 34, also of Queens, was told to stop but took off running eastbound through the woods.
Acuna-Penagos was taken to the ground and held as backup officers arrived. Barrera-Munoz was located shortly after on Post Road.
The victim and employee ran over and confirmed her wallet and cell phone were stolen. The victim’s phone was located inside the vehicle.
A search of the vehicle determined another victim’s phone from Darien was also in the vehicle. Two other phones were discovered stolen from the Mamaroneck, New York Trader Joe's, and another phone from the Scarsdale New York store, police said.
Acuna-Penagos later told police that the wallet was thrown in the flower section at Trader Joe's because they were only after phones and there was nothing of value in the wallet.
Acuna-Penagos and Barrera-Munoz were processed on larceny and credit card theft charges and both were held on a $75,000 bond.
Both are due in court on Tuesday, Feb. 21.
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