Cops Nab Woman in Multi-State Parking-Lot TV Scam

The Clarkstown Police Department arrested a Massachusetts resident Thursday for her involvement in an ongoing scam that has been carried out for years in the Northeast.

The victims are offered an opportunity to get a discount on a high end Samsung 65” TV from a Sears store. The suspect poses as a Sears employee and meets the victim in the parking lot of the store. The victim hands over the money and is told to wait at the store merchandise pick-up area for the TV, which never comes.

The Clarkstown Police Department responded to Sears in Nanuet at about 6 p.m. for a report of fraud. The responding patrol officers interviewed an alert loss prevention employee who said he had observed the scam taking place.

The employee, a 35-year-old Nanuet resident, was able to hold the suspect at the scene until officers arrived.

Lindsay Kippenberger, 30, from Cambridge, Mass. was arrested and transported to police headquarters for processing.

The victim, a 59-year-old Westwood, NJ resident, told police he met her in the parking lot of the store and exchanged $2,100 for three Samsung 65” smart screens.

He never got the TVs.

Kippenberger was charged with criminal possession of stolen property (felony). She was arraigned in the Clarkstown Justice Court. Bail was set at $10,000 and she was transported to the Rockland County Jail. Her return court date is set for Feb. 22.

This scam is being investigated by multiple law enforcement agencies in several states. Anyone who has been a victim or who has information call Det. Michael Novotny of the Clarkstown Detective Bureau at 845-639-5864.

After a similar incident in Natick, Mass. last year, Natick police reminded shoppers that Sears does not conduct transactions in the parking lot.