A Miramar Police officer was arrested on petit theft and official misconduct charges after officials say he stole two bottles of liquor while investigating a shoplifting case.
Antonio Dwayne Hester, 34, is also facing a charge of falsifying records stemming from his investigation into a May 14 theft at a Walgreens store, Miramar Police said Thursday.
Hester was booked into jail and later released on bond. It was unknown whether he has an attorney.
According to police, Hester had detained the suspects and found several items in their car, including two bottles of Johnnie Walker Black Label liquor, police said.
It turned out the alcohol didn't belong to Walgreens but had been bought in Tampa. The items were brought back to the Walgreens store, and the women were released and given trespass warnings by Hester, police said.
Store surveillance captured Hester place the alcohol in the trunk of his police car. A civilian observer who was riding with Hester also saw him place it into his trunk, police said.
But in his incident report, Hester said he had returned the alcohol to the suspects, police said.
Hester, who has been with the department since April 2006, was placed on administrative leave.
