Parth Patel was on his way out with electronic items, liquor, to throw a party.
AB Wire
Boston University freshman Parth Patel, 18, was already in trouble, after being deemed a ‘danger to the campus”. He was on medical leave because of that. Now, he’s in a bigger soup and will plenty of time to regret his wrong choices in life after he was arrested by police trying to rob a Costco store of around $9,000 in goods.
WCVB, an affiliate of ABC News, reported Patel, of 35 Weather Deck Rd., Bourne, Massachusetts, was arrested and charged with breaking and entering nighttime for a felony and destruction of property over $250 on Feb. 21.
Waltham Police responded to the scene, at 71 Second Ave., after motion alarms went off at 9:25 p.m. on that day. According to court documents, after a Costco employee arrived and opened the door, police saw that a fire extinguisher had been set off near the front of the store and a watermelon was smashed on the ground, indicating someone was inside of the building. Officers later saw that a cake had been smashed in the bakery.
A Waltham officer saw Patel run out of a side door and apprehended him after initial confusion that Patel was a Costco employee, as he was wearing a Costco hat, police said.
At the time of his arrest, Patel had a stockpile of over 40 items, including an iHome speaker system, Bose speakers, Bombay gin and scotch whiskey at a side door, totaling more that $9,000, according to court documents.
Patel allegedly told police he went to Costco around 5:30 p.m. “with the intent to see the store and determine if he had moved to Waltham, he could use this store to shop in.” He also said he was high on marijuana while he was shopping, according to court documents, said the WCVB report.
Patel said he got tired and went to the back of the store and fell asleep for several hours. When he woke up, he was confused and used a fire extinguisher in an attempt to see how long it would take for the police to respond, police said.
According to court documents, Patel said he was collecting the items because he was going to throw a big party, but the pile eventually got too big for him to bring out to his car.
Inside of the vehicle Patel drove to Costco were two laptops, an iPad, a Samsung cell phone, a power saw and three medical center IDs along with a small amount of marijuana, according to court documents.
Also according to the documents, a Waltham police officer spoke with Sgt. Bob Manning of Boston University Police Department and learned that the items in the car were reported stolen. Patel said the electronics in the car were his and he didn’t know why the IDs were in the car, his father’s 2006 BMW.