Police: Rotterdam man posed as inspector to rob GameStop

Police say Saturday, a man went into GameStop in the Hannaford Plaza in Rotterdam, pretending to be an inspector.

“He went in Saturday with a toolbox and a duffel bag,” said Rotterdam Police Lieutenant Kyle Girard. “Throughout the course of that time he made his way around the store and said that he needed to come back the next day to fix some things.”

GameStop sells games and video game consoles like Playstation, Xbox, and Nintendo Switch that can cost hundreds of dollars.

Police say the man came back the next day, even bringing an exit sign and lighting with him, but employees got suspicious.

“They realized that he was taking a while in the back,” said Lt. Girard. “He didn’t come in with any identification or insignia or anything on his uniform. He was kind of just in plain clothes. When he was leaving they realized the bag was bigger than when he came. Even though he was there with a tool box, they just kind of started putting things together and thought we need to check into this.”

They confronted him and police say he hit one of them twice in the face and took off.

It didn’t take long for officers to make an arrest. They say they found 34-year-old Jeffrey Caruso of Rotterdam nearby.

“He does have a criminal history and we have dealt with him over the years, so he was known to us. That’s a way we were able to identify him with some of the store video.”

Police say it’s always best to check up on anyone doing work inside your store or your home.

“I would always ask for identification, maybe ask for a phone number of the company they’re working with to verify that way, if you can’t get a hold of your management right away. But I would take at least one step to verify who this person is and if they should be inside your business.”

GameStop employees said company policy prohibits them from talking to reporters about the crime.

Police say they have no reports of this happening at other businesses in town.