When top White House aide and one-time federal appeals-court nominee Claude Allen resigned suddenly last month, there was much speculation about what was going on. The White House said that Allen simply wanted to spend more time with his family, but his departure seemed oddly abrupt. Today, the Montgomery County Police Department, in the Maryland suburbs of Washington, announced that Allen was arrested yesterday and charged in a retail theft scheme. According to the police:

On January 2, 2006, a Target store Loss Prevention Manger observed an unknown man enter the store located at 25 Grand Corner Avenue in Gaithersburg. He was observed in the store with an empty Target bag in a shopping cart. The man was then seen selecting merchandise throughout the store and placing items in the Target bag. He put additional items in his cart. The man then went to guest services where he produced a receipt and received a refund for the items he had just selected from the store shelves.
After receiving the refund he left the store without paying for the additional merchandise in the shopping cart. He was apprehended by the store employee.
The Target Loss Prevention Manger contacted Montgomery County Police and through the police investigation it was learned that Allen had been receiving refunds in an amount exceeding $5,000 during last year. Some of the fraudulent returns were made at Target stores and some at Hecht¹s stores. He would buy items, take them out to his car, and return to the store with the receipt. He would select the same items he had just purchased, and then return them for a refund. Allen is known to have conducted approximately 25 of these types of refunds, having the money credited to his credit cards.