Food, Glorious Food!

From the St. Petersburg Times:

HUDSON - Here's how it worked, authorities say: The four entered the grocery store as a team. They wore the backpacks. Peter Riotis did the stuffing, packing their bags with the store's food. Then they'd be sent to a waiting vehicle outside.

There, the backpacks were emptied. Then they'd be sent back into the store to do it again.

Riotis, 43, was the alleged ringleader.

The ages of his alleged accomplices: 6, 10 and 12.

The Hudson man used the children to shoplift food, according to the Pasco County Sheriff's Office, and Friday he was cited for retail petty theft and three counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor.

Riotis apologized and offered to pay for all the items, the report said. Instead, he was handcuffed and taken out of the store.

But when deputies tried to put Riotis into the back seat of the sheriff's cruiser, they had a problem: He's 5 feet 8 inches, 470 pounds, the report said.