Middletown Cops: Woman Left Child Behind After Stealing Stroller

MIDDLETOWN, NJ — Two women were arrested after police say they shoplifted a high-end baby stroller from the Middletown Bambi Baby Friday — and accidentally left their own child behind as they tried to get away, Middletown police and the Bambi Baby owner told Patch.

Last Friday, three women – including the two who were arrested – were seen going into the Bambi Baby store on Rt. 35 in Middletown. They had several young children with them at the time. It was a little before 6 p.m. that evening.

One of the women distracted store employees while store security cameras captured another stealing one of the high-end strollers on display. Bambi Baby posted the security videos to Facebook (watch below). The three women left the store. However, that's when one woman realized she left her child — who appears to be a little older than a toddler — in the store, police said. A few minutes later, the women came back, found her child, and they left again.

"They walked in with three kids and left with two," said Enelio Ortega, one of the owners of Bambi Baby. He was in the Middletown store on Friday and witnessed the whole thing.

"The child was not even three, maybe 2 and a half. It was about seven minutes before they realized they had left the child," he said. "They were in the car getting ready to drive away when they realized they forgot the kid. He was just playing on some store computers and they came back and grabbed him. I've been laughing about it, as well. I've been in this business for 35 years and I've seen a lot of shoplifting; people don't realize how common it is in the retail industry. But I've never seen an incident where someone leaves behind the kid."

Ortega said he suspects the women even dressed similarly to help them get away unnoticed.

"They were all wearing orange tops and blue jean cutoff shorts or skirts. They had the goal of shoplifting," he said. "They timed it perfectly because we were very crowded with customers. They used that, and all their kids, as a great distraction."

Provided exclusively to Patch by Bambi Baby, you can watch the entire stunning incident. The three women, all wearing orange tops and similar shorts, walk in at the beginning and the alleged theft unfolds. At 5:12 p.m. (top of the video), one of the women returns and grabs the left-behind child, a boy with tousled blonde hair.

Bambi Baby contacted Middletown police with the videos, and police arrested two of the women in Eatontown on Sunday evening.

Maryann Cash, 23, of Surrey, England, and 20-year-old Nan McCarthy, of Effingham, England, were both charged with shoplifting and conspiracy. The third woman is still at large.

Detective First Class Daniel Sullivan, Detective First Class Albert Scott and Detective Keith Hirschbein were the detectives who made the arrests.

Ortega said Middletown police were "great to work with. They arrested them within 48 hours."

Bambi Baby was started by the Ortega family in West New York. They have locations in Middletown and on Long Island.