Dumb Mistake Leads Police To Shoplifting Suspect
PENN VALLEY (CBS13) -- An alleged shoplifter made a spectacular error that allowed deputies to easily identify her, authorities said.
Anything Green Hydroponics owner Doug Jones said the first-time customer had a pleasant personality and chatted with store employees, but surveillance footage showed the woman repeatedly stealing expensive items off the store shelves and stuffing them into her purse when she was out of eyesight.
"Every time we turned our backs, she was basically on the other side of our display, filling her bag with out merchandise," Jones said.
The woman made three trips into the store, Jones said, but decided to gamble on one last chance for free product: She signed up for the store's raffle prize, leaving her name, address and phone number.
"I actually thought it was a bunch of malarkey in the beginning," Jones said. "I thought, 'She's not going to put her real information on there is she's ripping me off blind.'"
Jones called the Nevada County Sheriff's Department and showed them the surveillance footage of the theft, and when deputies checked out the address on the raffle ticket, they found the woman.
Although initially denying culpability for the thefts, the woman admitted she had stolen eight items after she learned about the surveillance footage.
The suspect, identified as 20-year-old Elizabeth Genevieve Null, was arrested on suspicion of shoplifting and possession of stolen property and was released on bail.
