Former cop, who used to work for the NYPD, was suspended for stealing wood flooring from a home in upstate New York

by Rocco Parascandola and Thomas Tracy

Chief of the Police Bureau and New York Daily News

An off-duty NYPD cop who was demoted from captain to lieutenant for hanging out in a bar was suspended this week after she was accused of stealing $1,300 worth of wood flooring from a Long Island store.

Lina Ruiz, a lieutenant with the Suffolk County PD, was arrested on Monday for allegedly stealing flooring from a Floor & Decor store in Commack, Suffolk County.

Ruiz was suspended from duty on April 13th, an NYPD spokesman confirmed. She was arrested for theft the day before, police said.

A spokesperson for Ruiz’s lawyer stated, “It was a simple misunderstanding.” The incident was a “comedy of errors.”

Lt. Ruiz, Lina

Long Island resident Ruiz frequents a Floor & Decor store in Nassau County. This January, when she needed to get her floors done, she ordered 65 boxes of wood flooring from the store but only received 55, Brill said.

According to Brill, when she went to the store to find out what happened, an employee at the Garden City store told her that there were more boxes of popcorn at the Commack store. The employee said they would note in the computer that they had paid for the boxes and been allowed to take them but never made the entry, according to Brill.

According to Brill, Ruiz took all of the boxes with him even stopping to talk with the clerk about them. Workers at the store only noticed that they were missing 10 boxes after they’d left. So they called police and police tracked him down.

“The employee was fired,” Brill said. Clearly, he or she made a mistake that has caused devastating consequences.

Ruiz was charged with misdemeanor grand larceny, Suffolk County police said. She was given a desk appearance ticket ordering her to show up in court at a later date.

Ruiz was on duty while at the bar and received a demotion when video footage emerged.

Although it wasn’t clear if she had been drinking, the woman was demoted for bad judgment, said a police source.

According to NYPD employment records, Ruiz had been assigned to Queens Central Booking before she was suspended.