OMB director charged with shoplifting
The head of the state office that oversees Delaware’s more than $6 billion budget faces shoplifting charges in connection with several incidents at a Wilmington Home Depot.
Cerron Cade, director of the Office of Management and Budget, turned himself in to Delaware State Police Troop 2 Dec. 13, after a warrant had been issued for his arrest.
About 8:30 p.m., Dec. 14, Gov. John Carney sent a release stating that Cade had been placed on paid administrative leave due to a personal legal matter. Cade was appointed director of OMB in 2021, and had previously served as secretary of the Delaware Department of Labor and as acting director with the Delaware Economic Development Office, where he helped establish the Delaware Division of Small Business and served as its first director, according to his state biography.
Carney had also tapped Cade to serve as his chief of staff when Carney assumes his new role as mayor of Wilmington.
OpenPayrolls lists Cade earned about $163,000 for 2024.
According to court records at Justice of the Peace Court 2, a corporate investigator with Home Depot reached out to Delaware State Police with documentation of six incidents in which Cade used skip-scanning to remove items from Home Depot.
“This technique involves intentionally not scanning all of the items in a customer's shopping cart when using self-service point-of-sale machines,” records state. “The customer will make a legitimate purchase to not draw suspicions to their activities.”
Court records say photographs at the Home Depot on Miller Road from June 16 to Oct. 30 were used to help identify Cade.
Items that Cade left in a shopping cart without scanning ranged in cost from a $6.97 bag of Miracle-Gro Perlite soil, to a wood and metal outdoor patio lantern for $39.98, a $74.97 animal trap, and an 8-by-10-foot area rug for $199, among other items, according to court records.
Cade was charged Dec. 13 with six counts of shoplifting under $1,500, and he was released on his own recognizance pending an arraignment in the Court of Common Pleas set for Jan. 23, 2025. Cade was ordered to have no contact with Home Depot.
Carney said in his press release that the Department of Human Resources will conduct a review to determine if there is a violation of the state employee standard of conduct policy. Carney named OMB Deputy Director Courtney Steward as acting director. Tanny Washington, outgoing Wilmington Mayor Mike Purzycki’s chief of staff, has agreed to stay on while the matter is resolved, Carney said.
“Cerron has been a dedicated member of my team for years, so this is obviously a disappointment and a surprise. I am hopeful he can work through this challenge and return to his career in public service,” Carney said in a statement.
Throughout his early career in public service, Cade’s biography states he worked as a legislative aide in the Delaware House of Representatives, deputy county director for U.S. Sen. Tom Carper and legislative liaison for former Gov. Jack Markell.
