Child used in shoplifting scheme, then abandoned
By The Associated Press
Police are looking for three women who abandoned a girl at a grocery store after allegedly leading her into a life of crime.
(6/13/03 - HOUSTON) — A 7-year-old girl has been in foster care since she was abandoned in a grocery store earlier this week by her mother and two other people following a botched shoplifting scheme.
Investigators have not been able to locate the girl's home, her mother or the other two women since the shoplifting attempt at the Randall's grocery store Monday night, Sugar Land police Det. Marshall Slot said.
"(The girl) has been able to tell us that she attends an elementary school. She has not been able to give us the name or her address or the neighborhood or anything like that," Slot said in Friday's editions of the Houston Chronicle.
The shoplifting scheme, which was caught on tape by a surveillance camera in the store, began when two women walked into the store and were recognized by the manager as repeat shoplifters.
"So he started watching them and then called police before anything actually occurred, so we already had an officer on the way to the scene," Slot said.
The women filled a hand-carried basket with about $95 worth of hygiene products, set it down inside the store near the front door and left.
Slot said the women sent the girl into the store, but the child could not immediately locate the basket.
"One of the adults entered the store partially and pointed out the basket," he said.
The child picked the basket up, ran outside and headed for a car that was waiting. But the manager followed the girl and grabbed her before she could get in the car, Slot said.
The women drove away in a red Chevrolet Corsica just as a police car pulled into the parking lot, leaving the girl behind.
Police were not able to say if the girl's mother was one of the women who came into the store, but the child identified the driver of the car as her mother.
Because of her age, the girl does not face any criminal charges in connection with the attempted shoplifting.
Slot said investigators are trying to find her mother and the other two women, who are believed to be relatives.
(Copyright 2003 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
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