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Ricardo Valdespino Jr., 33, of Ephrata, and Jason R. Wanner, 32, of Bowmansville, were charged with committing thefts Oct. 16-18 at the Kmart store in Ephrata, police said.
An Ephrata woman is being investigated in connection with the thefts but has not been charged, Ephrata police said.
The trio went into Kmart three straight days, each time getting a vacuum cleaner from the shelf as if they were going to buy it, Detective Ken Lockhart said. Instead, they took it to the customer service desk as a returned item.
They were given gift cards that they used to purchase a total of $216 worth of items in the same store, he said.
The store notified police of the thefts on Oct. 19.
On Sunday, Valdespino targeted the store again, Lockhart said. He was arrested while trying to steal a $25 sweatshirt.
Valdespino was arraigned and sent to Lancaster County Prison in lieu of $50,000 bail, Lockhart said.
Police then filed criminal charges against Warner for his alleged involvement in the thefts, and a warrant was issued for his arrest.
He was taken into custody during a traffic stop in the Denver area on Tuesday, Lockhart said.
Wanner was arraigned and sent to county prison in lieu of $50,000 bail, Lockhart said.
Valdespino and Wanner face felony retail theft charges because they already have at least two retail theft convictions, Lockhart said. They also face theft by deception charges.
• In a separate incident Oct. 20 in the 200 block of Duke Street in Ephrata, a resident told police his air conditioner was stolen from his porch.
Later that day, Ephrata police pulled over a truck with an air conditioner in its bed, and three men in the truck admitted stealing it, police said.
Police charged Eric Unangst, 29, and Andrew Marks, 19, both of the 200 block of North State Street, Ephrata, and Michael Spoo, 20, of the 1100 block of South Reading Road, Bowmansville, with theft by unlawful taking and criminal conspiracy, police said.
