NYPD cop who makes $173K caught shoplifting at Banana Republic

Sgt. Tamas Balatoni allegedly switched the price tags on store items

Jan 2, 2018

An NYPD officer was caught shoplifting during the Christmas season, but he wasn’t arrested.

Sgt. Tamas Balatoni, 49, allegedly switched the price tags on items in a Banana Republic store during the last-minute Christmas rush. A store worker called the police on the officer, who makes $173,000 a year, and officers from the Fifth Precinct responded.

Assigned to desk duty

While Balatoni was stripped of his gun and badge and assigned to desk duty, he was not arrested. However, the New York Post reported a police source saying that the department was pressuring him to resign.

“If he doesn’t retire, he’s probably going to get fired,” the police source said. “He’s an embarrassment to the Police Department and to the profession itself.”

Balatoni, who earns a base salary of $108,593 but scored $173,525 in 2017 with overtime pay, had been on special assignment as a driver for Assistant Chief Edward Delatorre before the incident on Thursday.