John Jefferson
Inset Left: Elizabeth Novac (Lee County Sheriff’s Office). Inset Right: A woman identified by police as Novac (Cape Coral Police Department). Background: A Target in Cape Coral, Fla. (Google Maps).
A Florida woman is behind bars after enlisting a child to help her conduct a serious — and seriously expensive — bout of shoplifting at a Target last weekend, police in the Sunshine State say.
Elizabeth Novac, 23, stands accused of one count each of grand theft — larceny over $750 but less than $5,000, and contributing to the delinquency of a minor by causing a child to commit an act of delinquency, according to Lee County Sheriff’s Office records.
The odd, striking, and memorable nature of the alleged crime appears to have led to her arrest several days after the fact.
On Oct. 12, police responded to a Target on NE Pine Island Road in Cape Coral — a large city near Florida’s western coast and the principal municipality of the broader Fort Myers metro area, with the distinction of more navigable waterways than any other city on the planet.
But the defendant is alleged to have committed her crimes on foot.
The store in question reported a theft estimated at $1,111 that was committed the day before, according to a press release issued Friday by the Cape Coral Police Department.
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Target employees told responding officers the alleged thief was an “unknown woman” who came into the store with “a child under the age of 10,” according to law enforcement.
“Loss prevention provided video footage documenting the female loading a cart up with merchandise, giving the cart to the child, and using the child to walk out of the store with a cart full of merchandise,” the press release reads. “Two big ticket items were a barista machine and a vacuum cleaner.”
An investigation ensued, and the woman’s picture was sent around to various other members of law enforcement, police said.
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On Thursday, in response to a complaint about a woman panhandling, an officer allegedly recognized the panhandler as the same woman wanted in the Target theft investigation.
Novac was subsequently identified and arrested, police said.
“The investigation revealed that Novac loaded the cart with merchandise,” the press release continues. “Prior to briefly separating from the child, Novac was seen pointing toward the exit doors and intentionally having the child leave the store with the shopping cart without attempting to pay. She followed the child a few minutes later.”
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Police did not say what relation, if any, the child has to the defendant.
Novac remains detained in the Lee County Jail on a combined $15,000 bond.
A formal case against Novac had yet to appear on the Lee County court system’s public docket as of this writing.
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