Tampa, Florida (The Weekly Vice) -- Ambar Rodriquez-Avila, a 34-year-old Tampa, Florida woman has been arrested after police say she used an 8-year-old girl dressed in a Batman costume to shoplift from an area grocery store.
Some call it a five-finger discount. Others might refer to it as truly 'hiding the sausage'. The Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office called it theft.
Authorities say Rodriguez-Avila placed an 8-year-old girl into a shopping cart at a Tampa Publix grocery store and then went on a shopping spree - hiding $63 in grocery store items under the child.
Investigators say the child, who was dressed in a Batman Halloween costume, was used to camouflage several grocery items including magazines, candy, sugar, cheese, bell peppers and hot dogs.
Store security personnel noticed the woman exiting the store without paying for the items, but were unable to catch her before she reached her car and drove away. They were able to provide deputies with a description of the woman's 1992 Acura and license tag number - which was then traced to the woman's home.
Authorities arrested the woman at her home at about 1:40 a.m., five hours after the alleged theft. She was booked into the Orient Road Jail on felony charges of child neglect and petit theft.
The Weekly Vice Opinion:
We're still wondering how a kid sits on a bell pepper, so we'll have to assume this is where the kid's cape comes in. Obviously this is dingbat who obviously isn't aware of the dozens of charitable organizations in Tampa that could have helped with any food shortage.
Perhaps she would have felt odd driving to one in an Acura, but in her defense, a 16 year old Acura Integra or Legend is not an economic net plus. They get mighty expensive at about 180k miles. (yes, a bit of personal experience here).
But a word of advice to those who are finding it hard to make ends meet. Seriously - check into local charitable pantries. Get out of the Publix and go to an Aldes. What is pride, when you have to swallow it from behind bars?
On a side note, we're a little miffed that the Sheriff's Department couldn't wait just a few hours until the next morning to make the arrest. Waking up kids at almost 2 am for a $63 theft really seems a bit insane. What do you think?
Danny Vice
The Weekly Vice
http://www.theweeklyvice.com
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Saturday, October 4, 2008
Ambar Rodriguez-Avila - Allegedly Used 8-Year-Old Girl Dressed As Batman To Shoplift From A Tampa Grocery Store
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2 comments:
This seems to me an example of the POWER SURGE becoming popular these days with our socialized government. Police are wearing black colors replacing the blue of the old peace officer, empounding cars from people who committed no sin and on and on it goes. Yes, they could have very well have waited until daytime. In this case the child didn't know better.
For a mother (or any parent) to use their child in a criminal act is just WRONG!
I understand that times are a bit tough right now, and as I was reading the story, I began to emphasize with the woman until I read "magazines & candy". I used to work loss prevention for a certain grocery store down here in Florida and whenever we caught somebody shoplifting, we tried to look at a few angles before calling the police:
a) were they stealing out of desperation and/or necessity
b) did they steal something that could be deemed as beneficial (food, medicine, baby formula, etc)
c) are they poor, indigent, etc (this was based more often than not on what they were wearing/driving)
In almost every case, we called the police, but there were a few times where we sympathized with the thief, but rest assured that we made them feel like shit (think of how Steve Wilkos would handle it).
This lady was obviously NOT stealing out of necessity, but rather greed and stupidity, and the fact that she used her daughter in the heist automatically makes her a scumbag in my book. However...
The fact that the cops (aka the Stormtroopers) waited til almost 2 in the morning to make the arrest is equally as shitty.
There's no winner or loser in this case; the mom was an idiot for her poor poor judgment, but the cops used pretty poor judgment in making their arrest so late at night. She was a shoplifter for christ's sake!
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