Popular supermarket finally settles serial panty thief lawsuit moments before trial was set to begin
A Connecticut grocery chain, Stew Leonard’s, has reached a settlement in a long-running lawsuit involving a former employee accused of stealing female coworkers’ underwear. The agreement was finalized Wednesday, just before the case was set to go to trial.
The lawsuit was filed in 2019 by two women who claimed the company was negligent in hiring the employee, who had a prior criminal history involving similar behavior. The case had remained unresolved for several years in the Bridgeport Judicial District courthouse.
In a statement, CEO Stew Leonard Jr. said the company was pleased to resolve the matter after seven years. The terms of the settlement were not disclosed.
The former employee, Robert M. Brown of Burlington, was accused of breaking into the women’s homes and taking personal items. According to court records, he allegedly obtained one coworker’s home address through store records and accessed her house using a key taken from an unsecured office. In another incident, he reportedly took a key from a locker room and entered a second coworker’s home the same day.
The women identified him after reviewing home security footage and later reported the incidents. Both said they experienced significant emotional distress, invasion of privacy, and lasting harm as a result.
Stew Leonard’s denied the negligence claims, arguing that the incidents occurred outside the workplace and during the employee’s personal time. The company also maintained that it would not have been appropriate to disclose his past criminal record to coworkers.
Brown had previously been arrested in 2006 for similar thefts involving classmates and was later convicted in a separate case involving illegal materials, resulting in a prison sentence. In connection with the incidents involving his coworkers, he pleaded no contest in 2020 to two counts of third-degree burglary and was sentenced to two years in prison followed by five years of probation.
Brown is no longer employed by Stew Leonard’s, and both women have since moved on to new jobs.
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