A Mesa police officer accused of shoplifting in February has resigned from the department he served for eight years.
In his resignation letter to Chief Frank Milstead, former Officer Mark Cormier made no reference to the alleged shoplifting incident and said his decision to leave was difficult. “The past eight years have been a very rewarding time for me and my family,” wrote Cormier, who oversaw Mesa police’s Homeland Security Office. “I have enjoyed my work very much and will miss everyone at the department.”
Cormier’s last day was April 20.
His resignation came amid an internal investigation to determine whether he violated any departmental policies for allegedly shoplifting a $9.99 GPS attachment for his ATV from a Sportsman’s Warehouse on Feb. 5. That internal investigation ended with Cormier’s resignation.
Surveillance footage inside the store, at Greenfield and Baseline roads, showed Cormier roam the store, place something inside his left pocket and leave, a police report states. When contacted by police, Cormier said the incident was a “misunderstanding,” but he never admitted to taking the item, the report states. “You don’t have me doing anything against the law, I can tell you that,” Cormier told a detective in the report. “You may have me leaving an item in the store when I probably should have taken it back to the counter, but that’s it.”
Cormier has since pleaded not guilty to one misdemeanor count of shoplifting and is scheduled for a hearing May 20 in Mesa Municipal Court.
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