
MOUNT PLEASANT — A Racine woman is facing several misdemeanor charges after allegedly encouraging a 9-year-old boy to steal clothing from Kohl’s department store, 5500 Washington Ave.
Melissa A. Padilla, 39, of the 1700 block of Franklin Street in Racine, is charged with two counts of retail theft, two counts of bail jumping and contributing to the delinquency of a minor, all misdemeanors.
According to the criminal complaint:
Padilla and two young boys went to Kohl’s on June 13. The older boy, 9, picked out some clothes that he wanted and asked Padilla to buy them for him. Because, she reportedly said, she was out of work and having financial difficulties, she told him to put the clothes on in the fitting room underneath what he was already wearing and walk out in them.
A Kohl’s loss prevention officer noticed suspicious behavior and followed Padilla and the boys, but she wasn’t able to stop them. She did note the license plate of the vehicle they left in.
Kohl’s staff checked the changing room and found several tags and security devices that had been cut from clothes.
Using the address tied to the license plate and the surveillance footage from the store, Mount Pleasant Police identified the woman with the boys as Padilla.
A second incident
When Padilla, along with a man, entered Kohl’s on June 16, a loss prevention officer immediately recognized her from the June 13 incident. She called police after Padilla and the man brought merchandise into a fitting room.
Police waited for Padilla in the parking lot near a vehicle that they believed she was driving, and took her and the man into the store’s loss prevention office to talk about the possible theft.
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