Commonwealth v. DeCarlo

Opinion by

Hoffman, J.,

On the evening of January 6, 1965, appellant, Louis DeCarlo, was arrested in Horne’s Department Store by *53a member of the store’s security force. DeCarlo had not stolen any merchandise, nor had he been observed attempting to do so. His previous record of arrests for shoplifting was well-known to the store’s security force, however, and he had behaved in a manner which the arresting officer regarded as suspicious.

A criminal complaint was subsequently sworn out against DeCarlo charging that he was a professional thief in violation of §821 of The Penal Code, which provides:…