Police: Florida Woman Forces Daughter To Shoplift Gifts

[Dreadsox]

[Q]Police: Florida Woman Forces Daughter To Shoplift Gifts


FORT MYERS, Fla. -- A woman was charged with retail theft after allegedly forcing her 11-year-old daughter to help shoplift clothes she planned to give her for Christmas.

Tammi Edwards, 29, and her daughter tried to steal four shirts worth $57 from a Marshall's by stuffing them into two large purses, police said.

"Her mother handed her clothes and told her to put them in the purse," Fort Myers Police spokeswoman Kara Winton said.

Police were so touched by the girl's story that staff at the station started a collection to buy her and her two younger siblings clothing for Christmas, Winton said.

Edwards was in Lee County Jail on $500 bond Tuesday evening. The girl, who does not live with her mother, will likely be referred to a juvenile misdemeanor program, Winton said.

It could not immediately be determined whether mother or daughter had an attorney. [/Q]

Another product of our society

 

[Angela Harlem]

Pffft. Aren't these people usually products of the parent cycle? That's the easiest way out, blame your upbringing.

 

[~*Buffalo*~]

That's sad. If these people were in need, there are better ways to get help than to steal ... and especially to force a child to steal.

 

[arw]

... and especially to force a child to steal.

I worked at a T J Maxx for 6 years and I saw this almost daily. Either the parent told their kid to steal something or they just took it themselves while their kids were watching. Unfortunately the store did not have security there all the time and no camera's.

Until they were finally caught, there used to be about 4 women that would come in, kids and all, take a cart and fill it up with as much stuff as they wanted and walk right out the store. There wasn't a damn thing anyone could do about it. A lot of the kids would walk right out with a toy or a shirt on the hanger like it was no big deal. They probably didn't know any better. Then the adults would come back to the store a few days later with the merchandise and get a store credit. We had to take the merchandise back and give them a credit. We couldn't say no even though we knew it was all stolen. We'd see the credit slips again a few days later only it was someone else who had it. Most of the time the credit slips were traded for drugs or food or whatever. Some of the credit slips were worth hundreds. No money was ever given back but the person using it now got tons of free stuff from the store. T J Maxx changed their system a bit before I left making this harder for people to do but I'm sure it still happens all the time.

 

[verte76]

Good grief. I had no idea this much stealing was going on.

 

[Mr. BAW]

If this piece of crap is devious enough to develop an M.O., she's certainly devious enough to get a job!!

Put that slob on the highway picken' up trash for the next 2 years!!

 

[FizzingWhizzbees]

One of the places I used to work had a big problem with people stealing and then returning the items and getting cash back. It was the same people all the time too, but because we hadn't actually witnessed them stealing we (the shop assistants, that is) weren't allowed to do anything about it.