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Woman Accused Of Taking 5 Children Shoplifting

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By VALERIE KALFRIN | The Tampa Tribune

Published: July 3, 2008

Updated: 07/03/2008 04:58 pm

Rhonda Brooks

Nigeana Broadnax

A Plant City woman is accused of taking five children on a shoplifting trip to Wal-Mart with another woman and a 13-year-old boy, an affidavit states.

Rhonda Yvette Brooks, 26, is free Thursday on $2,500 bail after her arrest Wednesday. Plant City police charged her with felony grand theft and a misdemeanor for contributing to the delinquency of a minor.

An attempt to reach Brooks at home was unsuccessful. She has no other criminal record in the state, according to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.

Police said Brooks, her 13-year-old stepson, and friend Nigeana Broadnax, 24, bagged $584.15 worth of unpaid clothing at the store at 2602 James L. Redman Parkway. They were stopped upon leaving.

Brooks' five children with her at the time, police said.

Broadnax, of Plant City, was held at the Orient Road Jail Thursday on $2,500 bail, jail records show. She is charged with felony grand theft and a warrant for failing to appear in court on a misdemeanor petty theft charge.

No information on the boy's custody was available.

This is the third time this week that authorities have publicized an incident of women shoplifting with children.

Hillsborough County deputies on Tuesday charged Yumay C. Guardado, 32, of Tampa with grand theft and contributing to the delinquency of a minor. Guardado took her 12-year-old daughter shoplifting at a Brandon Target on two occasions, deputies said.

The Pasco County Sheriff's Office is still searching for two women who brought four children on a shoplifting trip to a Bealls department store on Route 54 in New Port Richey on June 17. Investigators have released store security video of the women.

Reporter Valerie Kalfrin can be reached at (813) 259-7800 or vkalfrin@tampatrib.com.

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