Shoplifters Hide $3,000 in Alcohol Up Skirts
This little crime spree appears simple on the surface. Shoplifting, the crime in quesiton, is never very complex.
But just how these alleged shoplifters committed their crime is more than complex, it's downright baffling. Three women, with the aid of accomplices, shoplifted more than $3,000 worth of liquor by simply tucking the bottles up under their skirts and walking away. Consider the logistics for just a moment, won't you?
As caught on the security video, the three suspects were videotaped at DPF Liquors in Hallandale Beach, Florida, whisking bottles of booze up their skirts. The bottles seem to disappear into a hole in the space-time continuum. Not only do the large bottles not fall and break on the floor, the women stroll around as if they do not have sloshing loads of liquor stashed somewhere on their person.
The store owner and Broward County Sheriffs were both confused and bemused by the 'professionalism' shown by the alleged lifters, reports the local NBC News affiliate. Store owner David Rassi quoted the sheriff's office as saying: "'Where the hell are they holding them?'"
Shoplifting is a fairly straight-forward crime that is a type of larceny specifically linked to the theft of merchandise from a business establishment. Where shoplifting cases can become more complicated is when employees accuse customers they suspect of shoplifting either without just cause, or when they improperly detain "suspects." This can lead to claims for the tort of false imprisonment.
However, with these particular shoplifters, false imprisonment would obviously not be an issue; they would probably just make themselves disappear.
Store owner David Rassi told NBC News that, in an attempt to better protect his store, he tried to figure out how the suspects had lifted the liquor. "I went home and I tried to do it, walk around with a bottle of wine and it didn't work, it kept falling," he said. "They got me confused, there's a lot of tricks that I don't know yet."
Related Resources:
- Their underwear -- it must not be like yours and mine (MSNBC)
- Shoplifting (FindLaw)
- Shoplifting Arrest: Former Miss USA Shannon Marketic (FindLaw's Celebrity Justice)