Precinct 1 Constable’s Office officials say a serial thief was so comfortable grabbing cases of beer and walking out of the Kroger store on 20th Street that employees knew they’d see him every Wednesday and Sunday.
And so, like clockwork, Jermaine Boulding, 42, allegedly walked into the grocery store Sunday at around 9 a.m., grabbed two cases of Bud Light, and headed out the door, according to court records.
His “getaway” included walking across the parking lot and climbing aboard a METRO bus at the corner of 20th and Yale.
“But that’s when his party was over,” Harris County Precinct 1 Constable Alan Rosen said.
Precinct 1 deputies reportedly blocked the bus before it could pull away and found Boulding on board as he was sipping a can of the evidence.
“We catch the criminals, but is up to the courts to determine what should happen to them,” Rosen said. “For now, he’s off our streets.”
Boulding, who resides in the Houston area, is now charged with felony theft with two or more previous convictions (11 to be exact), meaning he faces the possibility of prison time.
Officials said he’d been stealing from the store for months, according to employees, and seemed to always be able to escape.
Court records show Boulding was sentenced to six months in state jail for a 2024 incident in which he stole a Jeep Cherokee.
In 2007, he was sentenced to six years in prison for an incident in which he stole numerous games from a Game Stop store and used a box cutter to threaten an employee.