Two women stole nearly $500 in groceries from a Publix in Kissimmee, FL, but there’s one thing they forgot: their children.
Kristin Grodetz, 25, and Jessica Barker, 31, were caught on surveillance cameras in the store throwing items into a grocery cart. They had two 11-year-old girls with them along with another three-year-old child, who sat in the cart.
Grodetz and Barker took the three-year-old with them when they pulled off their own Supermarket Sweep, but they left the two 11-year-olds, who went to store security. They walked out and told store employees they would return, but they didn’t.
When the cops arrived, they had the girls call one of the women to ask when they would be picked up. The woman said she would arrive later to pick the girls up, but she never did.
Both women live in Lehigh and had stolen $476 in groceries total.
There’s no word on why the women had to steal the food — or whether or not they had intended to feed the children with the stolen goods. While some children don’t get enough to eat, most kids’ nutrition includes empty calories from sugars and solid fats, which comprise 40% of a daily diet for the average two- to 18-year-old. Half of those empty calories come from foods like dairy and grain desserts or pizza or drinks including whole milk, soda and fruit juice.
A couple of days after the incident, Grodetz turned herself in, but Barker was still wanted by police. Both women are being charged with grand theft, child neglect and contributing to the delinquency of a minor because they had used the 11-year-old girls to help them fill up the cart.
The children have been placed into state custody.
