ELIZABETHTOWN, Ky. (AP) — Authorities in Kentucky have charged 5 Illinois women in a $25,000 shoplifting scheme they say stretches from Illinois to Georgia.
Each woman is charged with offenses including engaging in organized crime, news outlets report. The women were arrested early Tuesday after two of them stole more than $1,500 worth of items from a local Kroger, Elizabethtown police said.
A security guard tried to stop the women, who then fled into an awaiting van that had a temporary Illinois license plate, police said. The van was stopped nearby and officers said it was filled with stolen merchandise including beauty products, makeup and “high value” merchandise. Additionally, police said they found records that indicated two 300-pound (136-kilogram) packages of suspected stolen property had been shipped to Atlanta from Illinois.
Police also found a “log of locations” in the van that indicated where the thefts happened, according to an arrest citation. The logs detailed the items stolen, by which person and on what date, it says.
The women are being held on $25,000 bonds. It's unclear if they have lawyers. Court records indicate the women are from Chicago. Police were still working Thursday to determine if the women's provided names and ages were accurate as they have been known to use aliases in past court cases, according to the arrest citation.
