Toy Theft Leads to Charges in Southington: Warrant

SOUTHINGTON, CT — A woman has been charged with stealing toys from a local big box store last month, Southington police said Thursday.

On Wednesday at about 9 a.m., Marilu Valentin, 40 of New Britain, was turned over to Southington police on an active warrant for her arrest. Valentin was charged with sixth-degree larceny and held on a $2,000 court-set bond.

The warrant stems from a theft investigation at the Southington Target store on Oct. 12, police said. According to the warrant, on that day, a woman, later identified as Valentin, was

observed entering the store with an empty shopping cart.

Valentin was observed entering and exiting multiple toy aisles and putting items in the
shopping cart.

Valentin then pushed the shopping cart past all points of sale and exited the store without paying for the items, according to the warrant.

It was all captured on store surveillance video, police said.

All of the items in the cart could not be identified, police said. Those that were had a total value of items $250.97, police said.

Photo Credit: Chris Dehnel