Shoplifter Used Kids in Heist, Nabbed in Wild Police Chase

PASADENA, MD — A plan by a Baltimore woman to use her pre-teen daughter and niece in a shoplifting spree at a Pasadena Babies R Us store escalated from bad to worse when their getaway driver hit a police officer with a car and sped off as police pursued them, authorities say.

Anne Arundel County Police received a shoplifting report at 7:43 p.m. Thursday from the store at 8040 Ritchie Highway. When officers arrived, the suspects were running from the store to a getaway vehicle waiting in the parking lot. An officer responding to the call got out of his patrol car and confronted the suspects as they hopped into the getaway vehicle.

Instead of stopping, police say the driver of the getaway vehicle — Erik Benjamin Prestbury, 50, of Baltimore — stepped on the gas. Prestbury's car struck the officer in the leg and continued across the parking lot toward Jumpers Hole Road. Other police vehicles had blocked the parking lot's exit, so Prestbury reportedly threw his vehicle into reverse and rammed a patrol car. He was then able to maneuver around the police vehicles and exit onto the road.

With patrol cars in pursuit, Prestbury sped north on Ritchie Highway as suspected shoplifter Tierra Latasha Reid, 28, of Baltimore, and the two girls tossed stolen merchandise out the windows of their car, police said. Once police put puncture sticks on the road to deflate Prestbury's tires, the suspect vehicle stopped on Ritchie Highway near 16th Avenue.

Investigators say Reid used her 10-year-old niece and 11-year-old daughter to steal and conceal items from Babies "R" Us.

Prestbury and Reid are charged with multiple crimes, including assault, theft and traffic offenses. The girls were served on juvenile citations and released to another family member.

About $400 in stolen merchandise was retrieved from the side of the road by police and returned to the store. The officer struck by Prestbury's fleeing car suffered minor injuries and did not require immediate medical attention, police said.

»Photos of theft suspects Erik Prestbury and Tierra Reid, courtesy of Anne Arundel County Police