A Weinberg junior was arrested Tuesday and charged with stealing $198 worth of textbooks from Norris Center Bookstore, police said.

Laurent Caron, 20, who lives at Phi Gamma Delta, 2331 Sheridan Road, was charged with retail theft at 10:30 a.m. at Norris University Center, Sgt. Tom Branick of University Police said.

A bookstore employee contacted UP after the student was seen leaving the store with two macroeconomics books, two industrial organization books and a CD-ROM stuffed into his jacket , Branick said.

When he was confronted by the employee, the student returned the items and admitted that he had not paid for them, Branick said.

Police took the student into custody and he was later released on a $1,000 bond, Branick said.

Caron declined to comment about the incident Wednesday night.

Store manager Dan Posas said this incident is only the latest in a string of retail thefts, which he says is a common problem at the Norris Bookstore.

“It happens a lot,” he said. “We lose hundreds of thousands of dollars each year (in stolen books).”

Posas said about two students each quarter are caught stealing books, but he estimated 90 percent of book thefts go unnoticed because of insufficient staff and security.

The two-floor layout of the store also makes theft prevention difficult, Posas said. For employees to be able to catch people stealing books, he said, “It has to be pretty obvious.”

Posas said he and his staff are developing stricter security measures to lower the theft rate.

Caron is scheduled to appear April 29 at Circuit Court in Skokie.