An off-duty Atlanta Police Department detective was arrested in Cherokee County after deputies say he stole a $18.99 12-pack of SweetWater IPA from a Publix in Canton.
The Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office responded to the Publix on Hickory Flat Highway on Sept. 16. According to FOX 5’s report citing the incident report, store management identified the man as APD Detective Ronald Sluss.
Deputies say surveillance video led to the arrest
Investigators said surveillance footage showed Sluss walking through the checkout area with the beer while holding what appeared to be an old receipt and leaving without paying. Deputies also said he drove away in a silver Ford F-150 later confirmed to be an undercover APD vehicle.
After a misdemeanor theft-by-shoplifting warrant was obtained, Cherokee County deputies and APD supervisors went to Sluss’s home and took him into custody without incident, according to the report.
APD opened an internal investigation
FOX 5 reported that Sluss was booked into the Cherokee County Adult Detention Center and received a criminal-trespass warning barring him from returning to that Publix location.
Atlanta police said Sluss was relieved of duty and placed in a non-enforcement status while the department’s Office of Professional Standards investigates. WSB-TV also reported the arrest.
The shoplifting charge is an allegation, not a conviction. The initial reports did not establish the outcome of the internal APD investigation or the final disposition of the criminal case.
