Police Use Entrapment to Arrest Man for Stealing

Police sting operations – long the province of undercover drug deals and Internet sex chat rooms – found a home in a South Willow Street parking lot Monday night, when police arrested a Manchester man who threw a purse and DVD player from an unattended shopping cart into the trunk of his car and took off.

Police intentionally placed the shopping cart, a purse with $60, and bagged item in the parking lot, hoping to snare a would-be thief.

But Manchester resident Alexander Ramasci, 23, said he meant to go home, figure out who the owner was and return the property.

A store clerk who works for the state Liquor Commission, Ramasci feels he was entrapped.

“It was one thing if I broke into a car and ripped a purse out of a lady’s hand, I could understand them calling me a thief,” Ramasci said. He said his stepfather was a police officer in Burlington, Mass., for 10 years and now works in federal law enforcement.

Manchester police said this is the second year that its Special Enforcement Team has set up sting operations in local shopping centers in an effort to ensure shopper safety.

State law requires that anyone who finds lost or mislaid property take reasonable steps to find the owner, police Lt. Maureen Tessier said.

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Alexander Ramasci, 23, who works as a part-time clerk at the New Hampshire liquor store in Hooksett, said his hopes for a higher-paying, full-time job have also been put on hold. Ramasci was charged with misdemeanor theft Monday, after he took a purse and electronic consumer good from an unattended shopping cart and put them in the trunk of his car.

Ramasci, who lives with his parents in south Manchester, said he won’t be able to pay his bills if he can’t work. He ticked off credit card bills, student loans, car insurance and cell phone charges.

“Especially during the holiday season, this is killing me,” Ramasci said Wednesday.

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