Police: Mom used child to help steal clothes from this Bluffton store
One of two women arrested Saturday afternoon in Bluffton after they allegedly stole clothing from a Tanger Outlets store used a child to help her, according to a Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office report.
The theft was reported around 12:50 p.m. from OshKosh B’gosh at Tanger 2.
Deputies saw the two suspects in a second store and noted they were picking up items and moving them to opposite sides of the store. The deputy asked the two women to step outside with two small children in tow, the report said. Both women “immediately” denied taking items from OshKosh B’gosh.
One of the women carried a “Wilson Leather” shopping bag, but had not purchased anything from the store. An employee of OshKosh B’gosh told a deputy that she saw the two women carrying the shopping bag in her store and that one of them concealed items inside it before leaving the store without paying.
When a deputy saw one of the women doing exactly that on surveillance footage and confronted her about it, she tried to “run away,” the report said.
“I was close behind her and pushed her, making her fall to the ground,” a deputy wrote. “(The woman) tried to stand up and began passively resisting. I forced her to the ground and placed her in handcuffs.”
A deputy wrote that the second woman could be seen on surveillance footage with the children as she put a piece of clothing in her purse.
“It appeared that (the second woman) also utilized her daughter to help her conceal items in her purse,” the report said.
A search of the second womens’ purses revealed items from three separate stores, including OshKosh B’gosh.
The two women were charged with two counts of shoplifting, and the woman who ran was additionally charged with fleeing to evade arrest.
A family member took custody of the children and both women were taken to the Beaufort County Detention Center.
Caitlin Turner: 843-706-8184, @Cait_E_Turner
This story was originally published February 5, 2018 at 2:49 PM with the headline "Police: Mom used child to help steal clothes from this Bluffton store."