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Sam Penrod ReportingWhen a 23-year old Orem woman was suspected of shoplifting a videotape from a rental store, employees gave police the woman's license plate. And when an officer went to the woman's home she admitted to stealing the Lost Boys videotape, but didn't stop there.
Police say the woman admitted to going on a four month long shoplifting spree, stealing from the mall and other stores throughout Orem and Provo.
Officer Craig Martinez, Orem Police Dept.: "I started talking to her about other things in her home and that's when she decided to take me through her whole house and give me everything she had stolen over the last four months, ranging from baby toys, baby clothes, clothes for her, DVD players, cameras, CD’s decorations, clocks, lights."
But in those four months of constant shoplifting, the woman had only been caught once before, two days earlier at Wal-Mart.
Officer Martinez: "She said it was too easy for her. She started off with diapers and formula to feed her baby, she is a single mother. And then she graduated from there to thinking ‘why buy anything when I can get it for free?’"
Officers spent several hours loading up all of the stolen property
Officer Martinez: "I ended up with a whole truck full of stuff, 13 garbage bags full along with numerous boxes. So it was quite a bit of stuff; most I've seen."
An estimated ten thousand dollars in stolen merchandise was turned over to police when the woman's conscience, like the Grinch, triggered a change of heart. Because the woman cooperated with police, she was not arrested. However, she faces numerous charges of shoplifting and theft.
