Mequon-Thiensville School District employee charged after allegedly stealing more than $800 from Grafton Meijer

Mequon-Thiensville School District's director of educational services is facing a felony charge related to the theft of more than $800 of merchandise from the Meijer store in Grafton.

Kevin Deering is facing the retail theft charge in Ozaukee County Circuit Court.

If convicted, he faces up to a fine of $10,000 and up to three-and-a-half years in prison.

According to the criminal complaint:

On April 8, an officer from the Grafton Police Department was dispatched to the Meijer store, 1600 N. Port Washington Road in the Village of Grafton for a report of retail theft.

The store's loss prevention employee said he learned of a series of retail thefts committed by the same customer, identified as Deering. Deering's actions involved "skip scanning," where he would have several of the same item but would only scan and pay for one of them.

He would also weigh produce and then add additional items after the initial weight was recorded. Deering would also leave items in his cart, like small appliances, and avoid scanning them altogether.

Between February 14 and April 2, Deering was seen stealing items on 10 separate occasions. Among all of the known incidents, Meijer reports a total loss of $864.47.

Officers spoke to Deering and he indicated he did not realize he was doing this and that he would pay for the items. He later stated that he understood if it was on video, and that he wanted to cooperate.

When contacted by the Journal Sentinel, the Mequon-Thiensville School District provided the following statement:

"On the evening of Sunday, April 9, Mequon-Thiensville School District (MTSD) administrators became aware of a situation involving an MTSD employee. The employee has been placed on administrative leave, effective Monday, April 10. As this is a confidential personnel matter and an ongoing legal investigation, we do not have any further comment at this time."

Contact Alex Groth at agroth@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter at @grothalexandria.