Three women are facing charges after police say they were caught shoplifting more than $2,500 worth of merchandise from Aventura Mall.
Altoneka Lashae Bush, 27, Dontoria Jabre Bennett, 22, and Lakeria Shaykela Dennard, 22, were arrested Wednesday on charges including conspiracy to commit grand theft, dealing in stolen property and credit card forgery, arrest affidavits showed.
The affidavits said the women, who are all from Belle Glade, were caught on surveillance cameras concealing merchandise in the Pink store in the mall.
When the women tried to return the merchandise without receipts, they were told they could only get store credit and not cash, the affidavits said. The affidavit said the women became loud and said employees were being racist, the affidavits said.
"Due to the disturbance the manager approved the cash refund to avoid any additional issues," the affidavits said.
The women were seen going back to their car and then returning to the mall, where they went into the Urban Outfitters store. They bought three items but as they were leaving, the store's alarm went off, the affidavits said.
The suspect who bought the items returned to have her bag checked by an employee while the other two walked out of the store with concealed items, the affidavits said.
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Officers stopped the women when they tried to leave the mall in their car. They were in the process of pulling merchandise out of their pants as officers were conducting the traffic stop, the affidavit said.
The officers recovered more than $1,500 worth of stolen merchandise from the Pink store and more than $1,000 in merchandise from Urban Outfitters, the affidavits said. All of the items had security sensors still attached, the affidavits said.
Dennard and Bennett each had counterfeit credit cards in their possession, and Bennett also had two Florida driver's licenses in her wallet belonging to two other women, the affidavits said.
All three women appeared in bond court Thursday, where they were appointed public defenders. Bush was ordered held on $10,000 bond wile Bennett and Dennard each received $12,500 bond.
