Accused professional shoplifter Twanna Trotter, 29, of East St. Louis, Illinois, was allegedly running an online clothing store out of her basement that was stocked with $20,000 in stolen merchandise. On Friday, she was sentenced to four years in the slammer for retail thefts along the Missouri-Illinois border. According to police still investigating the extent of her operation, Trotter used Facebook Live videos to market her hot commodities.
"I describe it as the QVC of stolen clothes. I mean, she had things set up and things she was planning on selling that day," (said Chesterfield Police Department Sgt. Keith Rider.)
From WHNT:
Rider said his detectives would actually watch Trotter's Facebook Live sessions to see what she was selling.
"The products that they observed she was selling we were able to track back to ... retail areas in Chesterfield as well as throughout St. Louis County, and also as far as Osage Beach," he said.
Rider said Trotter has a history of arrests in Chesterfield for retail thefts. Rider referred to her as a "professional shoplifter" who treated the crimes as a business.
(via FARK)
image: @ChesterfieldPD/Twitter
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In Uniontown, Pennsylvania, Walmart was hosting a "shop with a cop" event where police officers take young people from low-income backgrounds on shopping sprees to buy gifts for their families. According to PA State Police Troop B, that was probably not the best day for Sunny Ray Firestone, 32, to "try and walk out of the store with a shopping cart full of merchandise that you did not pay for."
From KDKA:
According to a complaint Firestone told police her sick mother needed new clothes
Firestone has a history of retail theft.
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Police arrested Joshua Allen Renfroe, 29, for shoplifting hundreds of dollars of merchandise from a Walmart in Lufkin, Texas. From KTRE:
After Renfroe was arrested, he kept telling LPD officers that the “voodoo” made him try to steal the items from Walmart, the media report stated. He also told them that the “voodoo” told him not to brush his teeth that morning.
I'm not sure which is the greater crime.
image: Mekabre Loa Voodoo Doll - Complete Kit (Amazon)
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In the late 1980s, Woolworths made a training video to help its staff catch shoplifters. Video of actual shoplifters are narrated by a former shoplifter, who says things like, "People do not shop looking back and forth. Watch how people move," and "watch people's hands. We steal with them."
See also: Gentleman shoplifts a drink right before inquiring about a job there
[via Weird Universe]
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A Cincinnati gentleman, running from a police officer who spotted him shoplifting from Walmart, accidentally ran right to the rear entrance of the nearby police station.
According to police, "(Jeremy) Roberts made what can only be described as a tactical error and ran directly to the rear of the Cincinnati Police Department ... District 3 station, which is located just south of Walmart... and where he was 'greeted by numerous officers.'"
(WCPO, thanks Charles Pescovitz!) Read the rest
The hilarious running commentary really adds to this idiot's attempt to rip off a store right before asking about working there. Read the rest
