Cops: Man forged receipt to steal skylights

A Shelton man was taken into custody Saturday and his pickup truck impounded after police said he tried to use a fake receipt to steal skylights from the local Home Depot.

Pasquale Raffone, 47, of Center Street, was charged with fifth-degree larceny.

"It appeared that he created his own forged Home Depot receipt for the windows," Detective Sgt. Fred Hine said as he and Detective William Young processed and inventoried Raffone's truck Monday morning. "He took the windows from a shelf, put them on a flatbed and tried to roll them out through the garden center."

He also had several "paid" stickers on the stolen skylights, but was stopped anyway by a cashier and store security personnel who asked to see his receipt.

Police said that Raffone admitted to Home Depot employees that he would use fake receipts to steal products from the chain store and sell them on Craig's List, or he would take the stolen items back to a different Home Depot store and return them without a receipt and get a store gift card in exchange for the merchandise.

Raffone then would sell the gift cards at a discount on the Internet, according to police.

The skylights were valued at $886. Raffone was released on a $1,000 bond and is scheduled to appear June 1 in Bridgeport Superior Court.