An off-duty Atlanta detective allegedly stole a $19 case of beer from a grocery store before using an undercover police vehicle to speed away with it.
Ronald Sluss, an Atlanta Police Department detective, is accused of taking a 12-pack of SweetWater IPA from a Publix in Canton on Sept. 16, according to WSBTV, which cited the Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office.
Surveillance video allegedly showed Sluss wearing a T-shirt, baseball cap and sunglasses while carrying the beer through the checkout area. He appeared to be holding a receipt, investigators said.
The store manager became suspicious after Sluss allegedly passed through the checkout without paying. The manager followed him outside and photographed the vehicle he entered.
When the Publix manager called 911, he did not realize he was reporting a police officer. He later learned that the vehicle was an undercover Atlanta police vehicle.
Authorities initially struggled to identify Sluss because the vehicle lacked obvious police markings.
Investigators eventually traced the truck to the Atlanta Police Department, leading supervisors to identify the alleged beer thief as one of the department’s detectives.
Sluss was confronted at his home, where deputies arrested him. The arresting deputy reported that Sluss had a “strong odor of alcohol emitting from his breath.”
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The undercover vehicle also smelled strongly of alcohol, investigators noted, according to the outlet.
Shoppers at the supermarket said they were surprised by the allegations involving the officer.
“That’s crazy. I mean, what else could you think?” one customer told WSBTV on Friday.
Another shopper said, “I would think he would know what he did is a bad idea.”
A third customer described the alleged incident as simply a “bad choice” by Sluss.
The Atlanta Police Department said Sluss has been placed in a non-enforcement role while its Office of Professional Standards investigates the allegations, WSBTV reported.
“It is to be noted that the Atlanta Police Department takes all allegations of misconduct seriously, and officers are expected to abide by the highest standards of our profession,” the department said in a news release.
Sluss remains employed by the department but is no longer working in the field.
