2 Park Slope Food Coop Members Arrested for Lifting $18K in Groceries, Managers Say (Updated)

PARK SLOPE, BROOKLYN — Two members of the Park Slope Food Coop were arrested at the end of 2016 after stealing about $18,000 in products throughout the year, according to the Coop. The news was first reported in the organization's newsletter, The Linewaiters' Gazette.

According to the NYPD, 79-year-old Park Slope resident Norman Sussman was arrested on Nov. 30, while Ankh-ka-ra Sma-ntr (spelled with the dashes, police said), a 42-year-old from Manhattan, was arrested on Dec. 6.

Both were charged by police with one count of petit larceny after they "exited [the] location without paying for groceries," police said. Sma-ntr was also charged with criminal possession of stolen property. Neither had been arraigned as of Jan. 3, according to the Brooklyn District Attorney's Office.

The NYPD did not immediately confirm the sum of goods Sma-ntr and Sussman allegedly stole. Charges of petit larceny are reserved for crimes targeting items worth $1,000 or less.

Patch could not immediately reach Coop manager Joe Holtz for comment on Tuesday. However, Holtz told Gothamist that the $18,000 estimate was arrived at after Coop staffers checked past security tapes matched to the times and dates when Sma-ntr and Sussman arrived for their monthly work shifts, as all Coop members must do.

The crimes were originally brought to management's attention by Coop cashiers, according to the Gazette report. On the dates when they were finally cuffed, Sussman and Sma-ntr tried to exit the store after only paying for a small percentage of their goods, Gothamist reported — in one case $2 on an $87 bill.

Pictured at top: The Park Slope Food Coop. Image via Google Maps