On September 22, 2021, I, Officer Tim Van Nostrand, was on duty and assigned to uniform patrol in marked cruiser 181. At 4:54pm, I received a dispatch from Somerville 9-1-1 for a reported shoplifter who fled Adidas located at 544 Assembly Row.

The reporting party notified the call taker that the suspect was described as a black male with a plaid shirt, black backpack, and a tote bag last seen entering Puma located at 341 Artisan Way. At the time of the dispatch, my marked cruiser was parked in front of the Puma store, and I was exiting the Nike store located directly across the street.

I entered the Puma store and observed a male fitting the description provided standing at the register. Upon seeing my presence, the male dropped the item he had in his hand, and attempted to leave the store. I instructed him to stop and informed him of the circumstances why I was making contact with him. The suspect admitted to the theft, and attempted to hand me a bag full of stolen clothing, and leave. I informed him again that he was not free to go. At this time, Officer Chris Fusco (184) and Officer Thomas Lambert (East 2) arrived to assist.

I informed the suspect that my intention was to positively identify him, and allow him to leave this evening. The suspect acknowledged my statement, and when asked for identification, he stated he had none. I asked him to verbally identify himself. He provided me the name XXXX and the date of birth of XXXX, and he could not remember his social security number. This information did not return a matching record. The suspect then told me his name was XXXX with a date of birth of XXXX. A query of this information returned a matching record, however the RMV image was clearly not the same individual I had in front of me. In addition to the image not matching, the listed height and weight on the name given was 5ft 9in and 140lbs. The individual I had stopped was approximately 6ft tall and 200lbs. I had further conversation with the suspect and asked him how old he was, and he stated “37”. I informed him that a person born in XXXX would not be 37 years old, and asked for his true information. He then stated he was 50 years old, and I again pointed out that a person born in XXXX would not be 50 years old.

During this exchange, Officer Fusco responded to Adidas to speak with the reporting party, XXXX. XXXX stated she observed this suspect placing numerous clothing items inside a backpack that Adidas sells, and walk out the door past all points of purchase. The backpack I located on the suspect was Adidas brand, and still had the tags on it. Officer Fusco brought back the merchandise and the employee positively identified it as the stolen merchandise. The total value stolen was $454.17. A receipt was generated and will be attached to this report.

We then spoke with XXXX, the manager of the Ralph Lauren Polo Store located at 460 Assembly Row. Located in the suspects’ tote bag were numerous items of merchandise belonging to Polo, which totaled $323.33. XXXX stated he observed the suspect using wire clippers to remove the security sensors. When the suspect noticed the employees were monitoring his actions, the suspect stated something to the effect of the security alarms would not go off. XXXX described the suspect’. Real name XXXX demeanor as hostile and taunting toward the employees. A receipt will be attached to this report.

Based on the inability to establish a true identity, I informed the suspect he was being placed under arrest. While performing a search incident to arrest, I located a pair of wire clippers in the suspects left rear pocket. These clippers are commonly used to defeat security sensors. Also located on his person was $125 cash. I immediately recognized these bills as counterfeit. I located 12 counterfeit $10 bills and one counterfeit $5 bill.

At this point, the suspect stated he did not wish to speak with us, and no further conversations were had. Officer Robert Anaya arrived in the prisoner transport vehicle and he transported the suspect to the station where he was booked by Lt. William Rymill. At the booking window, the suspect provided the same biographical information, XXXX XXXX. Upon a return from his fingerprints, his true identity was learned to be Steven Collymore date of birth XXXX. Collymore also has 11 active warrants for various theft charges. A check of our in house master name file revealed Collymore was stopped for shoplifting at Assembly Row in 2015 by Officer Al Gee and Detective Mark Pulli (Incident #15051284). A photograph was taken at that time of Collymore which matches the individual arrested today.

Collymore was booked on the following charges:
266/30/C – Larceny Under $1,200 from Adidas ($454.17 worth of merchandise)
266/30/C – Larceny Under $1,200 from Ralph Lauren / Polo ($332.33 worth of merchandise)
266/30B(c) – Unlawful possession of theft detection device deactivator
266/30B(e) – Unlawful deactivation or removal of a theft detection device
267/12/A – Possession of a counterfeit note (12 counterfeit $10 bills and 1 counterfeit $5 bill)
268/34A – Furnishing false identification at booking

All of the evidence has been secured in an evidence locker.

Respectfully submitted,

Officer Tim Van Nostrand
#293
Somerville Police Department