Sheboygan, WI (WHBL) - There is no award category for the most dramatic escape during commission of a crime, but if there were, 33-year-old Randy J. Wappler would be a clear contender. Wappler is accused of committing a brazen jewelry heist at Memorial Mall on Tuesday, August 4, 2015.
A worker at Shabree Jewelers, which is located inside Memorial Mall, tells Sheboygan police that a man entered the store and struck up a conversation. The man claimed to be in town from Arizona and said he was visiting a friend in Sheboygan.
While talking to the clerk, the man also said that he was trying to keep an eye out for his mother who was supposedly shopping inside the mall at another store. The worker says the man left the store and came back minutes later.
It was during his second visit that the theft took place. The clerk says the man asked to try on rings, and was choosing between two men’s rings for himself. He also asked for a closer look at a woman’s ring for his mother. At some point while the man was trying on the rings, the worker says he looked up and began to yell, “Mom! Mom!” The man took off with the rings running toward Kohl’s department store.
The worker says she yelled at the man to bring back the rings, then he turned and replied, “I know! I know!” The man continued into the Kohl’s department store and was not seen again until security officers for the department store reviewed surveillance video. It turns out, the man gave them the slip by blending- in with Kohl’s shoppers. The video shows that the man stole a polo shirt from Kohl’s which he changed into before exiting the mall and hopping into a red car.
As luck would have it, Cedarburg police stopped Randy Wappler on August 23, 2015. They contacted Sheboygan police after discovering a large number of rings in Wappler’s possession, although none matched the three high- end rings that were stolen from Shabree.
Investigators with the Sheboygan police department followed up on information provided by the mall worker and surveillance video to identify Wappler as the alleged suspect in the jewelry store theft.
A criminal complaint states that Wappler’s mother was also instrumental in helping police to link her son to the crime. She told police that Wappler lived in Arizona for a period, but moved back to Sheboygan a year ago. The mother says that on the day in question, Randy came home and gave her a ring as a gift and said, “I’ve got some rings.” When police asked Wappler about his mother’s statement, he allegedly told police that his mother has mental health issues, and that he never made such a statement to her.
He was arrested by Sheboygan Sheriff's Deputies in the Town of Rhine last week.
Wappler is facing a felony count of retail theft and a misdemeanor charge of retail theft for the combination of which can land him more than four years in prison, if convicted.