Portsmouth police were called to Kroger on Gay Street after a report that a man with a very long history in Portsmouth Municipal Court was allegedly at it again.
According to the police report, a male shoplifter pushed a cart out of the store containing a blue tote with a lid on it.
Police said the man showed an old receipt to an employee as he pushed the cart toward the door.
The store manager tried to stop him, but the man fled and got into an older white vehicle.
The man was described as wearing glasses, a gray shirt, and shorts, with tattoos. Police were told the vehicle had a female driver with her hair up in a bun.
The vehicle was later described as an older white Nissan with a loud exhaust and was last seen heading east on 9th Street.
Police said the suspect is a man with a long criminal record who has faced more than 100 charges in Portsmouth Municipal Court over the years.
However, officers could not arrest him at that point because Kroger had not yet provided a theft report or confirmed what was inside the tote.
Loss prevention was expected to review store footage to determine what, if anything, was taken.
A few hours later, officers caught up with the suspect.
But without a completed loss report from Kroger, police still could not take him to jail on a new theft charge.
Instead, officers warned him not to come back.
Police said the man would be trespassed once he was located or if he returned.
No theft report had been filed at the time of the police entry.
It is a familiar frustration for businesses, police, and shoppers.
Someone with a long court history is accused of walking out of a store again. Employees try to stop him. Police catch up with him. But unless the store can document exactly what was taken and move forward with a report, officers may not be able to make an arrest right then.
So for now, the suspect got a warning.
Kroger still had to sort through the footage.
And police were left waiting for the paperwork needed to turn a suspicious cart, an old receipt, and a blue tote into a theft case.