A Florida police officer caught stealing from a Goodwill store west of Daytona Beach has retired rather than risk getting fired.
Video surveillance footage showed Brice Miller, a 23-year veteran of the DeLand Police Department, stopping his patrol car at the second-hand shop examining items left outside and loading them into the vehicle.
Miller was caught on tape doing this on two occasions, most recently in May, according to the South Florida Sun-Sentinel.
When the department discovered the tapes and confronted Miller, he claimed he was given permission by a Goodwill employee to take the items as long as he was giving it to needy people, WBBH-TV reported.
But no evidence was found corroborating that story, so Miller, 58, was put on suspension with a recommendation that he be terminated.
However, he retired before police Chief Bill Ridgway could make a decision on the investigation's findings, according to DeLand police spokesman Sgt. Chris Estes, DeLand police spokesman.
"The recommendation was for him to be terminated," Estes told the Daytona Beach News-Journal. "But Officer Miller made an appointment with the chief and it was his choice to resign."
Before the allegations, Miller was scheduled to retire in 2014.
Investigators said the stolen items, mostly clothing, dishes and glasses, were given to a long time female friend of Miller's.
Goodwill Industries has decided not to press charges, but the Florida Department of Law Enforcement is reviewing the investigation, according to WFTV-TV, which said that Miller had been disciplined twice before these charges came to light.