A Democratic state lawmaker nabbed for shoplifting at a Connecticut Target has an excuse. It’s a bad one, sure, but it’s an excuse.

He needed to go see his grandma, so he forgot to pay for stuff.

According to the CT Mirror, state Rep. Raghib Allie-Brennan announced Tuesday that he’d been nabbed at a Bethel Target outlet, where his district is based, for his failure to scan several items at a self-checkout.

However, the Target said this wasn’t his first rodeo through the shoplifting rigamarole.

“During a recent visit to the Bethel Target, two items in my armload of others were not scanned,” Allie-Brennan wrote in a Facebook statement after he was charged with 6th-degree larceny.

“I was in a rush to bring items to my grandmother in the hospital, the store didn’t have bags, and I was juggling multiple purchases,” he continued.

(And here I thought the Democrats want to be environmentally friendly; here he is blaming the fact the store didn’t have plastic bags in addition to his grandma!)

“While I do not have a record, I take full responsibility for the error and am working through the legal processes to resolve the matter quickly and respectfully,” he added.

“I respect the law and Target’s right to enforce their loss prevention policy, and I remain committed to serving my community with transparency and integrity.”

Alas, while the misdemeanor summons is a minor one generally, the story doesn’t end there.

From the CT Mirror:

A Bethel police summary of his arrest stated Allie-Brennan was detained by Target loss prevention personnel who told police they recognized him from “previous unreported larcenies.”

He was arrested after police reviewed security video showing him attempting to leave the store with $26.69 in unpaid merchandise, police said. The summary provided no further details.

Allie-Brennan, 33, a four-term lawmaker first elected in 2018, did not respond to a request for comment beyond his statement on social media, which did not directly address the accusation of previous thefts.

Indeed, as someone who once worked at Target once back when dinosaurs and Ted Kennedy still roamed the earth, his story doesn’t quite ring true; this, instead, feels a lot more like the treatment given to someone who had already been caught on camera in “previous unreported larcenies” but who hadn’t been confronted by security.

Perhaps the policy has become stricter since I left, but as a general rule, there’s nobody looking to tie up loss prevention for a not inconsiderable amount of time over one single accidental non-scanning of $26.69 worth of merchandise. I wasn’t there, but the use of resources seems non-commensurate with the “crime” if it’s just some guy rushing to see his granny in the hospital who missed a few cans of food.

But remember: Even though he blamed grandma, he celebrates Women’s History Month! So there:

He just doesn’t love women enough to take responsibility for his own actions without throwing Nana under the bus. And blaming the lack of plastic bags, too! Heck, I’m halfway surprised he didn’t blame the LGBT community for it:

Far be it from me to proclaim him guilty when a court hasn’t, but state lawmakers have to look at whether or not this guy has a problem with serial pilferage. Don’t just do it for trust in lawmakers, though.

Do it for Granny’s honor.

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