A Littleton police commander is accused of repeatedly shoplifting from a Highlands Ranch Target, allegedly making off with nearly $2,000 in merchandise over several weeks before store security tracked him down and turned his name over to deputies. Hal Mandler was arrested by the Douglas County Sheriff's Office on Thursday, Nov. 5, 2026, on charges related to the alleged property crimes.
According to an arrest-affidavit account reported by KDVR, Mandler is accused of taking a total of $1,916.52 worth of merchandise from the Target store, with the incidents being charged as a spree. The alleged thefts reportedly happened 13 times between Sept. 29 and Oct. 22, with individual hauls ranging from as little as $4.99 on Oct. 12 to as much as $999.99 on Sept. 30, per the same account.
How Target Staff Say They Identified Him
The case surfaced after Target's asset protection team called Douglas County deputies on Oct. 31 around 7 p.m. to report potential theft at the store, located at 1265 Sgt. Jon Stile Drive in Highlands Ranch. Store staff reported that a man had been linked to multiple thefts at that location over the prior 30 days, the station's report notes.
Investigators say the method involved what's known as skip scanning — ringing up only some items at a self-checkout kiosk while walking out with other merchandise left unscanned. Asset protection staff documented the credit card number used during the alleged skip-scanning and linked the man to a white truck bearing a Colorado license plate, before identifying the card user as Mandler, per the affidavit account relayed by the outlet.
A Google Search Reveals His Job
A member of Target's asset protection team reportedly learned that the man was a Littleton police commander through a simple Google search. Douglas County deputies later confirmed that the white truck was registered to Mandler, and surveillance footage, according to deputies, appeared to show him at the scene.
Mandler turned himself in at the Douglas County Justice Center on Thursday, Nov. 5, 2026, around 5:30 p.m. The unlinked account does not detail what, if any, formal charges, court dates, or plea have followed his surrender.
Littleton Police Respond
The Littleton Police Department said the alleged incident occurred while Mandler was off duty and outside city limits, and the department has placed him on administrative leave. In a statement, the department said it is fully cooperating with the ongoing Douglas County Sheriff's Office investigation while also conducting its own internal investigation, and that no further information would be released while that process is pending.
The department also said in its statement that the allegations are being taken seriously and that accountability, transparency and public confidence remain priorities.
Other Retail-Theft Cases in the Metro
Mandler's case is separate from other recent retail-theft investigations in the Denver metro area, though it arrives amid broader law enforcement attention to the issue. Since its creation in August, the Aurora Police Department's Retail Theft Investigations Team had identified 45 accused serial shoplifters connected to $82,000 in losses across the metro area, according to Sentinel Colorado. Among those cases, the outlet reported that Demonte Rodgers-Jenkins was arrested Oct. 9 as a suspect in 17 cases involving more than $23,000 in losses, while Jaquon Wickware was arrested Oct. 17 in connection with 12 cases involving $980 in losses. That Aurora unit is made up of one officer, two detectives and a supervising sergeant, per the same report.
In a separate Highlands Ranch case, the Douglas County Sheriff's Office said deputies recovered $9,600 worth of merchandise from a grocery store in Highlands Ranch after arresting four people, two adults and two juveniles, on theft and conspiracy charges; the driver also faced a charge of contributing to the delinquency of a minor. These comparable cases are unrelated to Mandler's arrest but illustrate the kind of retail-theft enforcement regional agencies have ramped up in recent months.
