I know people go through hard times. So, can I just pay them back? Unfortunately, it won't. >> No. Okay? So, I'm going to type up the paperwork. I'm going to take you with me. >> bathroom? You I'm going to take you to the bathroom, but at my station though. At my station, it's not too far, okay? >> It's not Okay. Well, can I get hair dye out of that? >> No, unfortunately. Okay. At a Winn-Dixie grocery store in Belle Glade, Florida, a trusted cashier allegedly orchestrated a month-long theft operation that loss prevention investigators would value at more than $10,000 in stolen merchandise. The scheme involved manipulated transactions, voided sales, a recruited teenage coworker, and perhaps most troubling of all, the alleged use of her own eight children as participants walking merchandise out of the store. This footage, obtained from the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office, documents the two interviews that followed. The question is not whether the thefts occurred. The surveillance evidence is extensive, but how each suspect would respond when confronted. And then once they bring it up to the register, she would not scan all the items for her kids, or she would void out the entire transaction and allow her kids or herself to walk out with all of the product not paid for. There was 31 instances of that between 6 1 23 through 8 3 23. 31 times she did that, totaling $1,048. 07 of stolen merchandise. This is obviously there's items that she did pay for, that's not included in that total. That's just what was not paid for. What he did, there were four instances where he's on a register and she herself would bring up her merchandise and he would not bring up all of her items. Sometimes he doesn't ring up anything. He'll just ring up one item and void it out. Everything else he would allow her to put back onto the cart and let her walk out with it. She walks out with her items. It's four times of that and all of those items that we were able to identify that were not paid for was $274.32. All of that happened last month. Uh 7 4 through 7 22 was four times with him that he had helped her. Go ahead. Okay. And she left. You You were in here, you said, right? Can we see the video? Sure. When officers arrived, the manager reported that she had stolen over 40 times in just a few weeks and even brought her kids to teach them how to steal. I'm sorry. We should have been there in the car, you know. Okay. Um you want to see either one or both? Yes. So, I have it per day. That's on June 1st through August 3rd. Um so, let's go to We'll go to the first one. So, I'm going to pull up the other camera because this one she has the merchandise off to the side. This is the overhead camera. These are the items. Who came up with the items? She did. She brought the items up. Okay. Um and but it was sitting there for a while. I only saved like a small clip because the larger the the larger the video, the larger the clip, the larger the handle it holds. And so, what she does is she only rings up She doesn't ring up I believe it was three items. It was just these three items. Mhm. The um was what was identified that was not rung up. That was total of $4.47. And the first time it was like small, but as she continued got more comfortable with what she was doing, um we started to have a larger transaction like this one was on 6 21 $106. I can go to one on 6 21. So, this was for other people that she um she knew. I don't know if that's It's not her daughters, but I know that there are other ones with her daughters, but this one was with other people that she knew. I don't know. So, all of these items were not paid for. Oh. I know the little girl. And her mom works here. They can see from here. And so, what she did was she allowed them to ring it up and at the end of it she voided the entire transaction. Can I see the overhead um computer I mean the camera for this transaction? So, that's when they come up. The actual doors are over here. This is at this register. Do you happen to have any other identifying information for the male? He's here. We can do a fingerprint. Um that's only if >> He's here. Now, let me see here so I can see what I have on him since he's here so we'll know what we're going to do with him. Officers knew that the other employee involved in the theft was currently working. They wanted to review all the evidence against him before questioning him. That's how That's a lot. Now, when they void something, did they call for a supervisor to override it or did they have the capability to themselves? Um depending on the dollar amount. And on this one, I don't think he did it to void it because he just didn't scan the items. Mhm. After gathering all the evidence, officers were ready to question the employee who worked in conjunction with the other. Do you think he'll come clean? Let's find out. Over a 2-month window, loss prevention documented 31 separate transactions involving the primary suspect. The total value of merchandise that left the store without payment was $10,486.07. Under Florida Statute Section 812.014, theft of property valued at $750 or more is grand theft of the third degree, a felony punishable by up to 5 years in prison. The alleged total here exceeds that threshold 13 times over. Florida's retail theft statute, Section 812.015, goes further. When coordinated thefts aggregate above $3,000 within a rolling period, the offense becomes a second-degree felony punishable by up to 15 years in state prison. The alleged scheme followed identifiable patterns, ringing up a single item and voiding the entire sale, skipping items while scanning others, or processing a full transaction and voiding it after bagging. A single scanning error is a mistake. 31 incidents following the same patterns is what prosecutors call evidence of intent. A second cashier was also identified, an 18-year-old named Omarion. On four occasions, he allegedly failed to scan items for the primary suspect herself. When two employees work in concert to steal from their employer, both face exposure for the scheme as a whole under Florida's coordinated retail theft provisions. Before the detective asks a single substantive question, Omarion begins admitting wrongdoing in general terms, calling it a mistake, blaming being young and dumb. These are spontaneous statements, not responses to interrogation, and generally admissible even without Miranda warnings under Rhode Island versus Innis. When pressed on what happened to the unscanned items, he acknowledges they would leave the store or be placed into what he calls go bags, bags prepared for departure. This is not a description of accidental scanning errors. This is a description of a method of operation, and it satisfies the intent element under Florida theft law. Hey, how you doing? Okay. Fine. How you doing? You can have a seat, okay? Yeah, you can please sit. How you doing? I don't What What's going on, Amaya? Just so you know, you're not under arrest. I just want to know what's going on. Tell me what happened. I made a mistake. Uh it's I made a mistake. What happened? It's not funny. It says You know, being young and having an opportunity, it just being dumb and now I've done put stuff in jeopardy, put myself in a position that I don't like to be in. This is embarrassing. But I will go. I ain't going to cry though. I ain't going to cry. We good. You guys are pretty um chill, so I'm not really too much nervous no more after talking. Talking, but at the end of the day, it's just a mistake. At the end, dude. I'm assuming the proper procedure is going to happen. So, yeah. That's all it is. Um there's not really much to it. And the man told me to write that and then just I've been sitting back here since then, so I'm >> Oh, I don't know what he wrote. >> Yeah, I'm just I'm just I'm just I'm I want to know what you said. Come here about it. Uh they said last month they got me for not scanning like what, couple items. But then they wanted me to pinpoint how much of this. I'm like, I don't know. Like it wasn't like oh for the whole year I've been here or for 6 months or for 5 months. That's for like just a month ago. So, it's not a common thing. It's not a wrongful thing. He told me everybody he talked to about me, they all said the same thing. Like, he's not that type of kid, this that and third. And um that's basically where I was at with that situation. Um me and him, we just talked about it and told me to write that and he'll I guess he'll be back and I'll talk to me some more or something like that and I've just been waiting since then. That's pretty much the situation I have. So, I'm just sitting waiting to see what the what's going to happen. What about the items that you didn't scan? What happened to them? Uh they're up in the air, out the store, or either put back into go backs. There's a lot of different things we do with items. But, then that's another thing he wanted me to like like the things he want me to answer are things like a month or 2 months ago and I'm like, "Hey, I can barely remember things from last week, but I can try my hardest to reach jump all the way back there and tell you the best I can." And I don't know if that's really much help. But, No, but you said he told you it's some items that wasn't scanned. Yeah, he wasn't specific. He wasn't specific on any of the stuff like that. What he just basically said, "Hey, you've been flagged in the system for this and this is as what's this is what we got. This is what's going on." But, he don't he didn't tell me what items wasn't scanned or nothing like that. He didn't tell me how much or nothing like that. It was just more of a the system is reporting you, so we got to do an investigation into what's going on. And that's where I'm at currently with it. Do you remember any item not being scanned? And do you remember any item was voided or anything like that? >> Yeah, when it comes to voiding, that's common between the the cashiers. Like, if a customer doesn't want it or if something happens or if a customer already purchased item and they're just exchanging for another or they damaged their item. It's common for them to just here hey, I I bought this and me being the cashier that's already seen their face. Once they come up, put it in the bag, here go your bag, go about your day cuz you already purchased that item prior to this interaction. I've seen your receipt. I've seen the whole prior to that. Right. And I mean, but as far as the store concerned, that's not the correct way to handle things when it comes to that aspect of it. Um and that's pretty much it when it comes to register assistance. I don't really keep track of what goes on. But, like I said, it's just being young, being in a position where you want to be beneficial, you want to be helpful. And it's just not the What do you mean by being helpful? No, just in general. Like, if somebody asks for you, like you're in a position to to help others. Don't talk in slang. I'm not going to I'm not I'm not I'm not I'm not this is slang. Be straight forward with me. saying okay, so being in the position to help others I mean, the person at least the person that I I'm not going to speak for everybody. I'll speak for myself. Being in a position to help others, the person that I am, I would take that opportunity. But, in this instance, me not considering consequences or what is the actual actions that I'm doing and what it could lead like that aspect of it wasn't being processed. And me being so young and it being so quick and at my 18th birthday, I just went to prom. I just went to grad bash. I just graduated. Um I just came from Orlando as a graduation trip. Like, all these things are going on. Moving so fast. I'm making a little money from Winn-Dixie and you know, everything's going smooth. Nobody's really in my ear telling me nothing, no rights or wrongs. It's just the introduction to adult life and having all that at once, it just didn't end up making the right decision. And it's unfortunate that >> not the right decision? That's where I'm lost. The the the not right decision is allowing whether it's willingly or I can't say unknowingly cuz if that's the case, then it's not your fault. But, just being true to your morals and not allowing items to walk out the store or being honest and scanning everything and doing things of that nature because that's what it is to be when you're an employee. That's somebody that's sticking to their morals and that's what I mean by doing the right thing and that's the mistake that was made. You already know what it is. Okay, I'm going to send everything I have to the state attorney. And they're the ones who's going to make the decision on on making um either making an arrest or not making an arrest. Okay? But, this is serious as you know. I have all the videos and the managers going to send them to me tonight and they can we can move forward with them. With his confession out of the way, officers knew it was time to confront the mastermind behind the entire theft scheme. Let's see how this worked out for her. Let me use the phone real quick. No, not right now. I I was going to make a Mhm. Can I use the phone real Okay. I was going to make a What's your name? My name is Have an ID on you, ma'am? No, ma'am. What's your What's your date of birth? October 1st, 1991. What's your first name? I I was going to make Okay. Okay, um what's your date of birth for her? 10 1 91. 91, I remember. Hold on. But, you look different, right? Yeah. How do I look different in what? I'm just fat, is that what you're saying? No. No. Smile. You said 10 1 91? Mhm. Yeah. Yeah, that's me. That's my driver's license. Mhm. You look different, though. I'm just fat. Stop. All right. Anything with him? Um he he said he said if you want to go down the list again he would try. That's okay, right? Just chatting. Can you Can you Can you have him step outside real quick? Can you use the phone real quick? Hold on. Can I use the bathroom real quick? Can I use the bathroom first? I'm going to take you to the bathroom. My car messed up. It's going to be nasty with you. Okay. All right. Oh, is there any way I can talk to you? >> to talk to you. Okay, go ahead. Go ahead. There's ways to do that. Okay. All right. I do have to read you your rights before I actually You have the right to remain silent and not answer any questions. Do you understand? Yes, ma'am. Any statement you make must be freely and voluntarily given. You have the right to the to the presence and representation of a lawyer Mhm. of your choice before you make any statements and during any questioning. Mhm. No promises to induce you to begin statement. This must be on your own free will. Do you understand? Mhm. Any statement can and will be used against you in a court of law. Do you understand? Yes, ma'am. Okay. Nothing more. So, basically I was helping out customers. By they were scanning it up when it entered the checkout. But, just I told them downstairs. Everybody does it. When I say everybody does it, I mean everybody does it. So, like I But, right now we're here for you. I see the I saw the videos. I saw you walk out with with the cards we have different locations. Different instance. So, I just want to hear from you about your >> of that stuff I paid for. Right. Well, if we got I got I got everything. I got the receipts. Okay. I have seen the whole transaction. Okay. Several transactions. Over a thousand dollars. Okay. Over a thousand transactions. So, there are some that was paid for He already went through that. Right. We removed the one that was paid and the the one that was that was either not scanned or voided have been taken out and the receipt everything is printed. Okay. I know people go through hard times. So, can I just pay them back? Unfortunately, no. No. Okay? So, I'm going to type up the paperwork. I'm going to take you with me. >> To the bathroom? You I'm going to take you to the bathroom, but at my station, though. At my station. It's not too far, okay? >> It's not Okay. Well, can I get help outside? >> no. Unfortunately. Okay. This is As I told you earlier, I'm Detective Bones. This is Detective Lorenzi. Okay. She's lead this her investigation. I'm just here to assist her. Okay. Whatever. So, she just has some stuff she just wants to talk to you about it, whatever. Okay. Okay. Okay. Before we talk to you, we have to read you your rights. We have to make sure you understand them and then we have to make sure with your rights in mind, you agree to speak to us, okay? So, that's where we're going to start. Okay. You have the right to remain silent and not to answer any questions. Do you understand? Yes, ma'am. Any statement you make must be freely and voluntarily given. Do you understand? Yes, I do. You have the right to the presence and representation of a lawyer of your choice before you make any statement and during any questioning. Do you understand? Yes, ma'am. This must be made of your own free will. Do you understand? So, they've provided me with videos for all the transactions that they allege. They're not alleging you stole everything. They're alleging that you missed items or voided items. And there was one where it wasn't scanned. I reviewed all the video. Okay. So, I know what happened. You know what happened. Some items were missed, some were voided. And there was a couple that were just voided out completely. But, my question is, there was a bunch of kids. They look like kids to me. Right. That were picking up your groceries for you. Mhm. Picking them out, doing what helping. Mhm. So, um and I noticed in the videos that you said you had eight kids. Yes, I have eight. How old are they? My oldest is 16 and my youngest is 10 months. 10 months? Uh-huh. Okay. So, I assume these are your children because you look like you're familiar with them. They look like they're comfortable and familiar with you. Right. And I have to just confirm that they're children and not involved in any crime because Okay. this isn't I'm not looking at your kids. I'm just looking to identify them. Sure. Okay. So, the first picture I'm just that's you, correct? You can pause. Yeah, hold on. Yes, ma'am. And this I think is one of your children. >> Uh-huh. What's What's her name? Her name is Uh-huh. This your oldest? Yeah. What? No. Who is that? That's a regular customer. Okay. I don't know. Okay, so on July 30th that customer came in and I forget whether you deleted things off of her receipt or what. So, that's not a That's No, that's not one of my children. She looks young, though. You don't know her? I know her, but she's not one of my children. Do you know her name? I think her name is These These two? I don't know who this is. The little boy? I don't know who that is. Okay. So, But this my child. That Yeah, he was with the child. >> Who is that? I don't know who that is. That's not my child. See, that's why I'm asking. I don't know who that is. That's fine, but your other child, what's her name? Her name is I I printed this out, but this is just to show you. See, we're watching you scan the Hershey's bar. You scan it one once, but you're holding two. So, that's basically what we were looking at. It's not the crime of the century. It's not a super big deal, but I don't know. Let me see. Okay, so there's a kid in the cart and then there's this kid. That's And that's my son, is right. All right. Okay. And this lady got on the ground to play with your kids. Do you know who she is? I'm just curious. >> That is a That's a child. She's a child? Yes. A big child. Yes, she's she's big as hell. That's a child. But not your Not yours or not related? She's They're They're cousin. That's their cousin? Yeah. What's her name? I think her name is I don't know her last name. But she wasn't with your kids. She just happened to be there. She was Yeah, she was playing with them in the aisle. And this is your time to explain maybe why why it was happening or Well, when I first started there, that wasn't my intention. Um I only got the job because like it was hard for me. Like my car note is 466. I mean 488. My car insurance is 466. My rent is like $900. My light bill run me like 250. My water almost that amount. So, it's like it was a lot. So, I got a job at Winn-Dixie and I started I think it was like my third month I don't want to say because I've been working there for like 5 months. So, I won't I don't I won't want to say 3 months, but 3 months in I got close with the the girls that used to work there. So, they hooked me on to like what to do when you and you know, when you're working at self-checkout. So, I got the swing of working at self-checkout and then, you know, they were just letting me know like you don't have to you know, you could just do this and not scan this, you know, and just void out on the keypad. Like I didn't know how to do that. I didn't pull it I didn't pull it from nowhere. So, obviously it had to be taught to me because I just started working there. So, So, those those girls that taught you that, they don't work there anymore? >> They're still there. They're still there? >> Yes. And I told Cliff I told corporate because they asked me their names. I gave Cliff I gave corporate and Cliff their names, but when I went in when I recently did went in there and talked to Cliff, I think it was like a week ago. Uh-huh. I asked him I was like I don't think I don't know Nope, let me back up. When the officer came in the store when I did my investigation or whatever. The officer came in the store and you know, he was like, "Oh, my boss told me to contact the sheriff's department." So, I was like, "Okay." My AC had went out. So, I was like, "You know, I'll be back. So, let me go run my kids somewhere so they won't be hot in the house because it was like 80° in my house. So, um when I got back the police were there. They were talking to they was in the back talking to the boy Omarion upstairs. So, when I went to the back, you know, she asked me my name. She put me in handcuffs. And the the man from corporate, he was like at the bottom of the stairs. So, I asked him I was like, "Can I talk to you for a second?" And he was like, "Sure." First he didn't want to talk, but officer was like, "You know, she want to talk to you for a second." So, he was like, "Sure." So, I was like, "I know you're here to do a job. Don't get me wrong. But if you say you're doing a full investigation, you should have nobody up front working. That I'm just And he was like, "What did you mean?" I was like, "They taught this to me. They the ones taught me how to do it. So, how come you're trying to prosecute me, but not everybody else that's doing it?" And he was like, "Oh, I'm doing an investigation I'm doing an investigation." I was like, "Don't Don't get me wrong. I know you have a job to do, but you should have did your investigation that same day and you wouldn't have nobody working." So, who taught you how to do it? Oriana the girl Oriana. Oriana taught me how to do it. So, I would just you know, explain to him like um Maureen does it, but it's not as often as everybody else. And just like I said, times got hard. But that wasn't my intention because I did love my job. Like I did, but that was never my intention. Okay. Have any questions? All right, this interview is concluded. The primary suspect is now in handcuffs at her workplace. She is by any reasonable measure in custody. The detective administers the Miranda warnings properly. Right to silence, right to counsel, statements must be voluntary, anything said can be used in court. This is textbook Miranda administration as required by the Supreme Court in 1966. Her first defense is that everybody does it. Under Florida law, that is not a defense. The wrongful conduct of others does not excuse the defendant. She then offers to repay the money. Restitution is a sentencing issue, not a bar to prosecution. The offense was complete the moment the merchandise left the store without payment. The presence of children in multiple transactions raises a serious additional concern. Under Florida statute section 827.04, contributing to the delinquency of a minor is a first-degree misdemeanor. If prosecutors could prove the suspect used her own children to physically remove unpaid merchandise, that charge could apply on top of the theft counts. She describes financial pressure, car payment, insurance, rent, utilities. This is context that may matter at sentencing, but it is not a legal defense. Florida does not recognize financial hardship as an excuse for theft. Even the common law defense of necessity requires an immediate emergency threatening life, not general financial difficulty. The primary suspect was charged with grand theft and released on bond. She then violated the terms of her bond, triggering a second arrest and the formal interview seen here. She was ultimately sentenced to 3 years of probation, which she continued to serve at the time this footage was released. Detective Maranci earns an A- minus. Methodical investigation, textbook Miranda administration, patient professional demeanor. Winn-Dixie's loss prevention team earns an A for disciplined evidence gathering before involving police. Omarion earns a C. Respectful, but admitted heavily without invoking counsel. The primary suspect earns a D for the scale of the scheme, the involvement of her children, and the bond violation. There are three lessons in this case worth remembering. First, if you are being interviewed about possible criminal conduct, it does not matter how calm the officer seems. Politely decline to answer and request an attorney. Every word Omarion spoke strengthened the case against him, not the other way around. Second, financial hardship is real, but it is never a legal defense. If you are struggling, food banks, community assistance, and bankruptcy protections exist for a reason. A felony conviction closes doors for life in ways that short-term relief from stolen merchandise never makes up for. Third, the most serious damage in this case may not be the probation sentence, but the example set for eight children. Patterns of conduct teach the next generation what is normal. Before involving anyone else, especially a child or a co-worker, in something you would not want on a surveillance screen, walk away. Let us know your thoughts in the comments below. Thank you for watching.