Shoplifting grandma caught on video at baby boutique
Surveillance video captured a woman in a hard-to-forget pink coat shopping at a high-end baby boutique in Maple Grove, Minn. The owner of Edelweiss Baby said the hopeful grandma got some great children's outfits, but she never paid for them.
Edelweiss Baby didn't even realize anything had happened for days, until they found empty hangers stashed in racks and realized they were missing a few things. Store management reviewed their video and were shocked to find that it was the friendly grandma in the pink coat who was clearly stashing things in her bag. Employees even remembered the very un-suspicious woman sharing a story about her daughter trying to get pregnant.
Watch -- Rob Olson's video report about this story
"We review a lot of video and this one is very clear, and will be very helpful," said Maple Grove Police Capt. Keith Terlinden.
The store posted two video clips to their Facebook page, with the promise of a reward. The comments range from shock of the brazenness, to blaming the store for not paying more attention to their customers. Others suggested that the woman may be exhibiting early signs of dementia, which include out-of-character petty theft.
Police say you can't deduce motive from video, but they say it shouldn't take too long to find her thanks to the quality of the video.
"As a city that has a high percentage of retail, we take retail crime very seriously whether it's a misdemeanor or felony, it doesn't matter to us," Terlinden said. "We want to make sure our businesses are safe, and we would really like to find this person."