Store security and police in Alpharetta have busted an alleged family shoplifting crew that targeted Target stores across the metro Atlanta area, Channel 2 Action News reports.
About 6 p.m. Saturday, security spotted five people – including two juvenile girls – trying to steal more than $1,700 in CDs, DVDs, clothing, handbags and a bottle of Dove soap from the Target at 6000 North Point Parkway, police said.
“This family/crew is known to Target loss prevention around the metro area,” police said. They allegedly have hit 15 Target stores – and the store in Alpharetta twice.
Store security watched Jessica Queneice Lumpkin and Rayshad Banks, both 23, meet with two juvenile females as they selected goods from the shelves, police said. A third adult, Lolita L. Lumpkin, 41, Jessica’s sister, was waiting outside in a late-model Chevrolet Suburban.
“The adults would come in and meet with the juveniles and then go back out, and (security) saw the juveniles put some things under their clothing,” Officer J.J. Howard told Channel 2.
Police were called, and officers intercepted the youngsters as they allegedly tried to leave the store with items they hadn’t paid for.
The girls turned out to be Lolita Lumpkin’s 16-year-old daughter and a juvenile friend whose age police did not report. A Taser-like weapon disguised as a cell phone was found on one of the girls. They told officers their mother and her boyfriend were waiting outside for them.
Officers took the adult Lumpkin and Banks into custody in the parking lot. The mother, aunt and male friend, all Atlanta residents, were charged with theft by shoplifting and contributing to the delinquency of a minor, police said.
The girls were turned over to Atlanta police and cited in juvenile complaint forms with theft by shoplifting. They were released to Lolita Lumpkin, who had been charged and then released as the only guardian of the two youths, police said.
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