TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Shoplifting Suspect Had Kids Along

ADVERTISEMENT

By VALERIE KALFRIN

The Tampa Tribune

Published: July 4, 2008

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

Rhonda Yvette Brooks, 26, was 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.

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 were with her at the time, police said.

An attempt to reach Brooks at home was unsuccessful.

She had no criminal record in the state, according to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.

Broadnax, also of Plant City, was being held Thursday at Orient Road Jail, with bail set at $2,500 bail, jail records showed. 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 13-year-old-boy's custody or detention was available.

This is the third time this week that authorities have reported alleged incidents of women shoplifting with children.

Hillsborough County sheriff's 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.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT