Woman Stole Nearly $600 Worth of Items From Gordman's in Woodbury: Police

A woman has been charged with theft and possession of shoplifting gear after police say she attempted to steal several items from a department store in Woodbury

On Sept. 23, at about 5:34 p.m., officers were dispatched to Gordman's in Woodbury on the report of a shoplifting in progress involving a female that had previously stolen items from the store on Sept. 1, according to police.

Loss prevention reported that the woman entered the store carrying a large empty purse and proceeded to gather items from the store.

According to the criminal complaint, the woman then entered the fitting room with items in her hand and an empty purse. When the woman left the fitting room she allegedly had a couple items in her hand and it appeared that there were items in the purse, which was now bulging. There were no items left behind in the fitting room, but staff did locate several electronic security tags that had been removed from clothing items. The woman dropped the few items that were in her hand and walked to the front of the store and left without making any attempt to pay for the items concealed in her purse.

Someone identified in the complaint as "Officer Olson" observed the woman leave the store. Hangers and items were hanging out of her open purse.

The woman was arrested. She verbally identified herself as Jennifer Marie Boerner, 32. A search of the purse revealed numerous stolen clothing items as well as a stolen watch, authorities say.

None of the items in the purse appeared to be damaged and none of the items had security sensors on them. Officers located a set of keys with an Alpha key on the ring. The Alpha key is used to remove electronic security sensors from merchandise/clothing items.

Loss prevention staff confirmed that the items concealed in the purse should have had security sensors on them, and the sensors located in the fitting room were consistent with what should have been on the clothing.

The value of the items stolen on Sept. 23 was $174.96, according to police. Authorities said that the same woman, with the help of an unidentified male, stole $414.77. worth of items from storm Sept. 1.

The total value of the items allegedly stolen by Boerner was $589.73.

Image via Bradley Gordon, Flickr, used under Creative Commons