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Ex-Con Bought Plane Tickets to Shoplift $17K From Stores at JFK, Police Say

By Aidan Gardiner | April 26, 2017 12:31pm
 Eric Love, who's been arrested 50 times, stole fragrances and Fitbits, officials said.
Eric Love, who's been arrested 50 times, stole fragrances and Fitbits, officials said.
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PAPD and Department of Corrections

QUEENS — An ex-con who goes by the name "Equality Martin" hatched a scheme to buy multiple plane tickets to gain access to JFK Airport terminal shops — where he shoplifted 52 fragrances and 18 Fitbit watches worth about $17,000, PAPD said.

Eric Love, 50, and who's been in and out of prison, bought the tickets so that he could get through security to the duty free shops and a Hudson News store on Jan. 23, April 2, and April 14, according to Port Authority Police spokesman Joseph Pentangelo.

Love, who's been arrested 50 times, stole the 52 fragrances worth more than $14,000 from the Duty Free Store in Terminal Four's A Wing on April 14, Pentangelo said.

Love, who's been convicted of grand larceny and other theft-related charges, stole more than $3,898 worth of Fitbit watches from a Hudson News Store near gate B20, PAPD officials said.

Investigators caught on to his scheme shortly afterward and were on the lookout when he returned to the airport's Terminal Four near B23 on Tuesday and arrested him, police said.

Love, of Schenectady, was arrested for grand larceny, police said. He hadn't been arraigned as of Wednesday morning, police said.

Investigators are also reaching out to their counterparts in the Los Angeles International Airport because Love is known to travel there frequently, Port Authority officials said.

Love was convicted in 1997 of criminal possession of a controlled substance and jumping bail, records show. He was released to parole in 2001, records show. 

He was convicted again in 2007 for criminal possession of stolen property, records show. He was released in 2008.

He was convicted again n 2010 for criminal possession of stolen property and was released in 2011, according to Department of Corrections officials.