Mom trains kids to steal puppy from store
Includes security video footage of the kids casing out the place, looking for the cameras etc. while mom gives direction holding a baby.
http://www.wftv.com/news/13707484/detail.html
Quote:
Police Say Mom Had Kids Steal Puppy From Store
POSTED: 4:42 pm EDT July 18, 2007
UPDATED: 5:24 pm EDT July 18, 2007
ST. CLOUD, Fla. -- Children no older than 10 were caught on tape scoping out a pet shop and then stealing a puppy. Police said their mother put them up to it.
Police said the family of thieves got away with a Boston terrier worth $800. The mother held a baby in her arms while the other three children, who appear to be no older than 10, pulled off the heist.
Surveillance video shows the children walk over to a corner bin and picked up a 10-week-old Boston terrier. The whole time there were four cameras on them and they knew it.
One young boy brought in the bag, while another located the cameras.
"There's a camera," the boy can be heard saying on the surveillance video.
But it was the oldest, a girl not even in her teens, that waited for the manager to turn his head to shove an $800 puppy into a sack. The white of the puppy's head can be seen on the video as they walk out the door.
"They were very schooled. They knew where the cameras were. They kept walking back and forth to the parent, asking for info," said store manager Juan Cotto.
Cotto said, if not for the surveillance video, he wouldn't believe the kids had robbed him. But the video shows they spent nearly half an hour setting up the crime, playing with the puppies and picking out the one the store's owner said was least likely to bark.
"They probably thought, 'We'll take this one. She's a quiet one,'" store owner Melba Cotto said.
Eyewitness News showed the video to St. Cloud police, who said the children were clearly under the orders from the woman standing nearby.
"The children are very young and they are doing, it appears, exactly what mom asked them to," said Lt. Shalyn Somers, St. Cloud Police Department.
Officers are now hoping someone can identify the family so they can put an end to the children's early lessons in crime.
"I never in a million years thought someone would have thought a parent would teach their kids to steal stuff," Melba Cotto said.
Police said, when they do find the woman responsible, they're looking to charge her not just for puppy theft, but for contributing to the delinquency of her children.
