Police respond to three unrelated thefts at Pickard Street Meijer
A Mount Pleasant Police Department car sits outside Walmart on Dec. 12.
Mount Pleasant Police Department officers responded to three unrelated cases of retail fraud in the same 24-hour period Sept. 7-8 at the Meijer supermarket located at 1015 E. Pickard St.
The first theft occurred at about 4:47 p.m. on Sept. 7. According to the police report, Meijer Loss Prevention officers observed a woman putting a variety of items in her cart, including alcohol, jewelry, groceries and DVDs, totaling up to $295.89.
The woman then attempted to exit the store without paying for her items, after which Loss Prevention officers, which are officers who catch people shoplifting, confronted her and escorted her back into the store. She sat down on a bench and told the officers that they could have the items back and that she "wasn't going nowhere." She then got up and exited the store again, this time running. She had made it to the Meijer Gas Station by the time officers from the police department had arrived.
The woman told officers she stopped running because she was having problems with her heart, and she was transported to McLaren Hospital. Upon release from McLaren, she was arrested for felony retail fraud, and lodged in Isabella County Jail. The suspect told officers she doesn't know why she does the things she does, and that sometimes "her head just snaps" and she does "stupid things like steal and drink." The woman has had multiple convictions of retail fraud in the past.
The second theft occurred the same night at about 9:22 p.m. Officers were dispatched to Meijer after Loss Prevention called in about a 17-year-old female suspect who had been detained after taking four bottles of alcohol totaling up to $53.93, concealing them and attempting to leave the store without paying.
The suspect had been spotted with a group of male subjects, though she was the only one handling the alcohol. The girl was placed under arrest for retail fraud in the third degree and taken to the Isabella County Sheriff Department for booking.
The third and final attempted theft took place at 3:12 p.m. on Sept. 8. An officer was dispatched to Meijer after a shoplifting complaint from the Loss Prevention Office. The responding officer made contact with the suspect, who identified herself as a member of the Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe. The woman said she had been disenrolled from the tribe about three months prior, and had been living in a garage on the west side of Mount Pleasant, said David VanDyke, Mount Pleasant Police Department public information officer.
The woman had attempted to steal $627.55 worth of merchandise, and told the officer she had not eaten in several days and had no money. The woman was placed in custody for retail fraud and lodged at the Isabella County Sheriff's Department.
