How A Shoplifter Became A Kidnapper
Garfield Heights, OH
Four women were caught shoplifting at Kmart May 14.
While the officer was securing them, one drove off in a car with two small children in the backseat in child safety seats. The police didn’t pursue her because of the two small children and the fact that the she had arrived with one of the detained women.
The problem is one of the children belonged to the other woman and the two had only met the day before. She didn’t even know where the other woman lived.
The police put out an “Amber Alert” after searching for her at several addresses. At each location, they informed the owners that if the child turns up to call the police immediately. That night the woman dropped off the child at a house on East 114th Street. The owner said he didn’t see who dropped off the little girl but spoke with a man in contact with the woman. The officers took the child back to the station and she will be taken to the Department of Child and Family Services.
The next day the woman called the police and said she didn’t steal anything and that the other woman had put her child into her car. She said she left because the police said they would contact 696-KIDS because she was shoplifting with her child.
The officer explained she had two warrants out for her arrest and other charges may be filed after the prosecutor reviews her case. At that point, the woman’s sister got on the phone and said the woman would turn herself in the next day.
The woman did turn herself in and was charged with theft, obstructing justice, falsification and kidnapping.
Found in the Garfield-Maple Sun
