MANKATO – A Twin Cities woman was arrested in a Mankato Wednesday in a shoplifting scheme she says was intended to help pay for her children’s daycare costs.19-year-old Alexis Pierce of Brooklyn Center was caught by loss prevention staff at Kohl’s with 11 pairs of pants and 6 shirts valued at $786.
Kohl’s staff first spotted two other women emptying items out of a purse into a car in the parking lot. By the time police arrived they had already left.
That’s when the store started watching Pierce on surveillance camera placing merchandise into a Kohl’s shopping bag. She left the store without paying and was apprehended in the parking lot.
Pierce told police she was stealing so she could sell the items to pay for her children’s daycare.
She said she got a ride to Mankato with her two friends, but couldn’t remember their names.
Formal charges had yet to be filed by midday Thursday. Police are requesting charges of gross misdemeanor theft.