A spokesman for the Anchorage Police Department has resigned after he was charged with shoplifting.
In a statement Thursday, police department officials wrote that Christopher Barraza, 40, shoplifted from a South Anchorage Target store on Aug. 19. He was allegedly wearing his police department-issued jacket at the time.
“He was not believed to be serving in an official capacity for the department at the time of the theft,” police officials wrote.
Police say they responded to a shoplifting report on Aug. 21, and Barazza resigned the next day.
Barraza began working for the police department last December, and was named by Alaska Journal of Commerce as one of the state’s top professionals younger than 40 earlier this year.
Police say Barraza was charged with theft, though the charges had not appeared in an online court database as of Thursday.
He did not respond to a request for comment.
Correction: Anchorage police have clarified that Christopher Barraza was not fired, but resigned.
