A “mannequin man” is facing jail time as he stands accused posing like a shop dummy so he could thieve after hours.
Police have released an image of the 22-year-old suspect who was pictured standing completely frozen to the spot, with his arm outstretched, holding out a black bag in front of the shop in Poland.
He stood in front of a shop window as he desperately tried to blend in with two mannequins wearing Barbie T-Shirts.
But, it seems, it wasn’t long before the man who was wearing jeans and a beige hoodie, sprang back into action, before allegedly stealing from a jewellery stand.
In a statement police in a central Warsaw district of Śródmieście said: “With a bag in his hand he stood still in front of a shop window, pretending to be a display mannequin.”
“When he felt safe, he went hunting and robbed the island of jewellery,” reports The Guardian.
He’s also been arrested on suspicion of stealing items from a second mall.
The man has now been charged with burglary and theft and faces up to 10 years in prison.
Warsaw Police said that staff and shoppers failed to notice anything unusual as the man stood in the window and blended in with several mannequins before he was eventually spotted by security staff.
Police say he also dined late at a restaurant in a second shopping centre and waited for it to close.
He is then believed to have entered a clothing store and “exchanged his clothes for new ones” before returning to the restaurant for another meal.
The man was caught on CCTV slipping under the clothing store’s partially open shutters.
In a third incident at another location the man waited until after closing time and then “took money from several cash registers and tried to steal other items”.
He has been charged with burglary and theft – and police have now released footage of the man after his arrest as he is restrained by two officers being walked through the streets.
The man has been remanded in custody for three months, prosecutors in Warsaw said and faces up to 10 years in prison.
