WAUKESHA — An arrest warrant has been issued for a Texas man who allegedly burglarized the New Berlin Target store in 2022 as part of a ring suspected in similar incidents in several other states.
A criminal complaint filed Thursday in Waukesha County Circuit Court listed charges of burglary and criminal trespassing against Cristofor Calin, 20, of Fort Worth, Texas. If convicted, he faces more than 13 years in prison.
The complaint said police were sent to the store, 4798 S. Moorland Road, on July 10, 2022, for a burglary in progress, after a security company reported the incident, saying the suspects appeared to have loaded merchandise into containers, then fled the store via the loading dock in an older Toyota minivan.
A store security official had video footage of the incident, which showed three men and a woman inside the store after it closed. Shift managers discovered toilet paper and paper towels stacked to form a wall, allowing suspects to hide in shelving behind it. The suspects grabbed screwdrivers from the store and broke into an electronics holding area, stealing various items which they placed in suitcases also taken from the store, the complaint said. The Target security official said the actors were likely a group known to Target after committing similar incidents in New Jersey and Pennsylvania in the previous few weeks, the complaint added.
The complaint said the Target official informed police eight days later that two of the suspects who matched the description of those in the New Berlin incident had been arrested in Mundelein, Illinois, as they attempted a theft from a Target there. One of the suspects was identified as Calin, who was seen in police images from Illinois with the same hairstyle and shirt worn by one of the men in the New Berlin incident, the complaint said.