Marquette students arrested after treating Sendik's like dining hall, taking armfuls of produce
Four Marquette students have been cited for misdemeanor shoplifting over the past week after learning that, unlike the dining halls, taking fruits and vegetables from a grocery store without paying is not allowed.
Bill Kairns, the manager of the new Sendik’s grocery store at the corner of W. Wells St. and N. 16 St., was surprised by the brazenness of the attempted burglaries. “All of them acted like they were doing something totally normal,” Kairns said. “Each time, I watched from the register as they grabbed an armful of bananas and walked out.”
The problem grew especially pronounced when the store got its first shipment of pomegranates in, prompting students in Straz Tower to circulate word in their online Facebook group that it was “pomegranate day” at the supermarket. Several honors students began to load the succulent berry into the extra pockets of their cargo shorts before being told that they’d have to pay for them.
“One guy still insisted that he didn’t have to pay because ‘his RA was cool with it,’” Kairns said with a dejected sigh. “God, honors kids are the absolute worst.”
Signs will go up outside the grocery store starting next week clarifying that patrons must actually pay for the food inside. Several students expressed their disdain for the new policy, saying it might dissuade them from going to the grocery store.
A lawyer representing Jaden Daniels, one of the convicted shoplifters, released a statement saying in part, “my client and many other Marquette students feel that access to free, excess produce is an unassailable right.”
Bail for Daniels and the other three students accused of shoplifting will be set at 20 dollars in MarquetteCash.
