Asst. principal caught after returning to store

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- A Charlotte assistant principal is led away in handcuffs after managers at an Off Broadway Shoes say surveillance video caught him on tape stealing a pair of black Timberland boots.

“He came in, cut straight over to back of men's department. I guess he decided he wanted these boots without paying -- and so he took em, switched out his shoes walked over to women's department, dropped his shoes in a box,” said store manager Nate Feth.

Feth said Michael Lefko got away with it.

Sedgefield Assistant Principal Michael Lefko

Lefko is the assistant principal at Sedgefield Middle School.

But the shoe store manager says Lefko came back to the store wearing the stolen boots, employees recognized him and had him arrested.

That’s when Feth says Lefko started pleading with him not to turn him over to the authorities.

'“l’ll do whatever I can. Just, please, this will cost my job. I'm an assistant principal at a school, I've worked really hard to get where I'm at, this is gonna ruin me,'" Feth said Lefko told him.

Some at Sedgefield Middle School were shocked to hear of Lefko’s arrest.

“Oh my god, I am in shock, I mean I'm in shock,” said Kanika Cook, a student’s mother. “He needed shoes that bad? That’s not good. He's not setting a good example for the kids.”

Her daughter, a seventh grader at Sedgefield, agrees.

“I wouldn't suspect him to do that, that is not a good example to be setting for us,” Deja Cook said.

CMS spokeswoman Nora Carr says Lefko is suspended with pay, pending the outcome of the investigation.