A note to shoplifters: When doing your thing, don’t leave behind any item that could incriminate you, such as, say, your 10-month-old infant.
According to the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, a hurried thief and an accomplice broke the rule of thumb when she escaped a JCPenney with $256 of purloined merchandise.
When a JCPenney employee spotted the suspect outside the store, she freaked out and fled, leaving her purse, the stolen clothes and the baby all together on the sidewalk.
The 23-year-old suspect added charges of child abuse without great harm, child neglect without causing great harm and contributing the to delinquency of a dependent to whatever fallout she faces for her shoplifting indiscretion.
Shoplifter runs out of JCPenney but forgets baby, police say [South Florida Sun-Sentinel]
(Thank, David!)
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This is my laugh for the day!
Why do Florida stories always make Benny Hill them music run through my head?
Too right, this sort of stuff always seems to happen in Florida…
There’s a reason Florida has its own FARK tag.
Or, you know, just leave the baby at home. Although I guess anybody stealing clothes from J.C Penny probably can’t afford a sitter.
WTF does where they steal from warrant what they can afford? You are an idiot.
Or, uh, maybe B was just stating the facts? She stole clothes from JC Penney. You’re the one making assumptions.
If she was stealing the clothing because she couldn’t afford to buy it that would imply that she couldn’t afford a sitter. Sitters are expensive.
It’s the general assumption that people steal stuff like clothing because they can’t afford it but if retail workers are right and it’s usually middle income females who shoplift then the general assumption is wrong.
When I worked retail, nearly all of the shoplifters were women with strollers. They’d stuff things all around and under the kid, or, since we now as a society needs strollers for kids up to 7, make the kid get out and walk so they could steal more. I think it was the assumption that nobody would dare to ask to search a stroller or accuse a glowing madonna of a mother of stealing. They were usually right, but it was fun to follow them and watch it.
um…pretty sure they were just stating the fact that she “stole clothes from JC Penney”…there was no emphasis on the place as opposed to somewhere else. You should chill and refrain from calling people names when you clearly fail at reading comprehension.
That’s the weird irony with these kinds of people. It’s okay to steal, but it’s not okay to leave the baby at home.
That picture is accurate – people that age with kids generally treat them like baby dolls.
I know you used the word generally, but your statement is a broad generalization, and I think it’s quite inaccurate. While we do hear about the young mothers who do a poor job, they are still in a minority.
Not very long ago most women married young and had their first children while still quite young, and I’ve seen no evidence that they didn’t do a good job. These days it’s become rare for women who aren’t in the lower economic brackets to have children young, but that doesn’t mean that most young women aren’t as capable of being good, young mothers as their grandmothers were.
There’s always one…
My mother was 27 when she had me, I think her mother was around the same age…
and that “not that long ago” you mentioned – society was very different back then. Women “generally” didn’t work, family support structure was different.. and women MARRIED.
I’m not saying that unmarried women shouldn’ t have children, just unmarried YOUNG women. I speak from a “financially secure” perspective on the issue…
I was unmarried and 20 when I had my first child, and married and 23 when I had my second. I wouldn’t suggest it as the optimal course for anyone, but everything turned out fine for my family. Hubby and I put each other through college, got good jobs, raised our children well. They’re both well adjusted, self-supporting adults now, and our daughter (my first child) is married with two children. They live close by and we’re all very close. It wasn’t easy but I wouldn’t change a single thing.
My mom married at 16 and had my older brother at 18, me at 20, then had several more. She was a fantastic mom – still is, for that matter.
HER mom was 17 when she married and started having kids. My aunts were all married before 23.
My family is from a very poor, rural area, and we were poor, but very much loved, and very well taken care of. I see nothing wrong with those choices, but I wouldn’t push any particular course of action for others.
I doubt those women also had their baby daddy’s name tattooed on their necks and shoplifted with 16 year olds.
I think your statement is a huge generalization. By the time I was 23, I was married and expecting my first child. We were also homeowners and financially secure. Most of my friends also started having kids at 23-27, after getting married, graduating from college, and buying homes. Not all of us are irresponsible twits before 30.
My mom had me at 24. She was single and had to move back to her mom’s house. It took her an extra year, but she got a BS from a respected private college and wound up going from restocking shelves at Fred Meyer to being in their corporate offices as a buyer.
She always told me she didn’t know how to reconcile the warnings of being a single mother with the reality of how well she managed. The way I saw it (and still see it) is that I came from a woman that made the most difficult situation look like a breeze, so whatever I wanna do, I can do.
What a dumbass. Please take that baby away from her forever.
The article actually never says it’s her baby. I assume it’s her’s, but she could have been watching the kid for someone else.
Maybe she stole the baby too.
THIS is why you never bring babies, or ducks, to thefts.
That story quacks me up. It certainly seems to fit the same bill as this story. People that do this sort of thing are just fowl don’t you think? They need to go down hard, legally speaking, but some smart lawyer will probably try to prove that they’re daffy and get them off.
Quit hoarding all the puns!
And just when I was going to bring my duck to rob the local B of A.
Ducks are for pleasure, not for work – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EXPcBI4CJc8
What an idiot! She could have sold the baby in the parking lot and then used the money to legally purchase all those clothes. Some people shouldn’t be crooks OR parents.
Ten months is pretty old. You can get $10,000 for a newborn but the price goes down pretty sharply after a month or two.
Really? I’m curious as to why the price drops….
Probably the same reason why older kids can’t get adopted.
But yeah, this is a month – not psycho abbrasive baggage of growing up in a broken home or foster home.
Ten months. The type of people who would buy a kid want a brand spanking new little baby, not one that is nearly a year old.
Ah… so a baby is like an iPhone….
clears up a lot of unanswered questions I’ve had about this topic…
THANKS!
To the people buying them in parking lots, yeah, a baby may as well be an iphone.
Reminds me of a line from Reno911 when they do the PSAs.
“You can get up to $25k on the black market for a baby, even asian ones.”
It’s horrible and a little racist but funny as hell.
You can get twice that if the eyes stay blue.
Sounds like a question for Yahoo Answers: “How is babby forgotten? How girl leave babby in cart?”
Hey, how did they figure out who the theif was? Did the 10-month-old infant rat her out?
OH, the story says a 16-year-old was also questioned. That makes sense – I figured if the lady fled leaving the baby at the scene, then why would she retreive the baby from the authorities later? It’s pretty clear that parenting is not a priority for her.
She also left her purse at the scene. For the good of all mankind, the baby should be taken away, and this woman sterilized.
AND what she stole! Massive failing all around.
This reminds me of the old Loveline Florida or Germany game.
That was the very first thing that came to my mind too!
Only in Florida…. Has their Child welfare and support services ever got straightened out yet?
“Contributing the to delinquency of a dependent”? What was the baby guilty of possession of stolen goods? Or was he loitering?
I love you. Really.
Except for the part where you made me spit my drink out on my keyboard.
Possession of an unregistered firearm, grand theft auto, and cattle rustling. You know, the usual charges that babies get up to when the folks aren’t around.
While the line was funny, the reason for that charge was the fact that she had a 16-year-old with her.
The fact that a 16-year-old was with the 23-year-old suspect hardly justifies a charge of contributing to the delinquency of a dependent…unless somehow the 16-year-old is a dependent of the 23-year-old.
Which would make this truly an epic fail.
Do you know what the elements of that charge are in Florida?
…contributing the to delinquency of a dependent…
Are they SURE that’s a baby???
The first thing I thought of was Finster, aka Ant Hill Harry, notorious bank robber believed to have perpetrated the daring Last National Bank holdup this morning.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baby_Buggy_Bunny
Copypasta of my comment above:
While the line was funny, the reason for that charge was the fact that she had a 16-year-old with her.
Finster…oh Finster baby…
Drugs are so clearly involved.
Your reasoning?
I say she deserves a break. We already let a ‘frazzled mom’ get away with shoplifting at Whole Foods: http://con.st/10008815
Disclaimer: If you’re taking me seriously, you need to re-evaluate yourself.
That is one of the funniest pictures I’ve ever seen!
Picture of the perpetrators within:
link