CROWN HEIGHTS, Brooklyn [CHI] — Tuesday morning, at about 11:30am, a Shomrim member driving a marked three wheeled scooter was flagged down by the manager of the Kol Tuv grocery, saying that a woman just shoplifted and was fleeing up Kingston Avenue. The store manager pointed out the shoplifter to the Shomrim member, who called for backup and Police.
Woman Caught Shoplifting from Kol Tuv
CROWN HEIGHTS, Brooklyn [CHI] — Tuesday morning, at about 11:30am, a Shomrim member driving a marked three wheeled scooter was flagged down by the manager of the Kol Tuv grocery, saying that a woman just shoplifted and was fleeing up Kingston Avenue. The store manager pointed out the shoplifter to the Shomrim member, who called for backup and Police.
She was apprehended and led back in the grocery store, on the corner of Kingston Ave and Montgomery St, where Police searched her belonging and found the stolen items which consisted of a package of mini cupcakes, some dried fruits and baby food.
Police officers then asked the manager if he would like to press charges against the woman, but out of pity for the woman, who was pushing a stroller with a young child, he declined to do so. Instead the officer issued the woman a Criminal Summons for trespassing and she was not arrested.
The value of the items taken totaled to $11.67, and were all returned.
I cant believe it
I know that every body did the right thing, however in a certain sense I feel bad for the woman, it seems like all she wanted was to feed her baby. I am in no way advocating theft,but it definitely is heart breaking to hear a woman needing to steal to feed her child. It is so interesting how we try to solve hunger in the whole world and not in the united states.
OK so there is WIC and Food stamps. Do the illegals have to starve. Of course you are going to say let them go back home. However could we really afford to live without illegal help. In the butcher grocery. Could we afford goods if all employees got paid minimum legal wage? Would we be able to afford domestic help. The answer is no.
So the answer is that we should send all out illegals to Darfur. The UN sends tons of food for all there, and whats better you dont need a social security. All you need is a pulse.
LOKLL
Now, if she hadn’t used her welfare cheque for crack, she wouldn’t have had to steal.
Thank You
I know this post will soon be filled with people yelling for justice. They will say that charges should have been pressed, or this woman will never learn. You will even see some idiots blaming the police for not being around enough when these things happen.
All I can say is kol hakavod to the manager of Kol Tuv. Pressing charges in this case would have helped nothing and would’ve only been detrimental. Thank you for actually thinking and showing some compassion (deserved or not).
chossid
Was it really necessary to post her picture?
Rach
He should have pressed charges.
What kind of lesson does this send to the others?
press charges
Why didnt you press charges. Now she will do it again
just wondering
Baby food, child in stroller?
Maybe the owner should have let her keep the food and offered her a job to pay it off?
Israeli Solder (Chabadnik)
BH
TO Just Wondering:
Would you trust an employee that just stole from you???
TO Chossid:
Yes it was other store owners and the community need to know who to watch out for a mare description would do no justice.
TO all:
Charges in this case wouldnt help much but place much unneeded stress on out taxes she would be locked away for a few hrs and then social services would have to deal with her baby and then when she is out decide if she should get the baby back. all in all its you and me who will be paying.
also if she is that desperate she should look for a job herself instead of stealing or living off my taxes.
i work in EMS and im tiered of seeing ppl taking a free ride on my taxes when i cant even afford insurance!!!
Just one persons humble opinion.
Feel bad, but...
gosh that is sad…she wants to feed her baby, but she serioulsy could go to some organization or something so sad…
anonymous
if store owners wont press charges on shoplifters it wont give them a reason not to steal!!! they know the consequences. if they cared enough they wouldnt do it.
CR
Sad? Yes. Right? NO!! Why is it ok to steal if you are poor? There are thousands of very poor families in Crown Heights too, can they also steal?
Kop Doktar
Shoplifting costs all of us. Each item stolen will increase the costs of our groceries. Kol Tuv can forgive the thief but only if he doesn’t make us all pay.
give me a break
The picture is there so others should know- if they spot her- that she is a thief and they need to hold on to their belongings.
She probably stole the goods because she thought she could get it for free by stealing. Why pay for it, baby food or not, if you could get away without having to pay? She probably has food stamps and WIC. If it really is because her baby was starving she could have easily approached the guy behind the counter and told him she has no money for baby food- and asked if he could please give her something.
Alternatively, she could prioritize and use her money on baby food and not red hair dye. If she found 5 bucks for dye she could have found 5 bucks for food.
Milhouse
Posting her picture lets people know to be careful around her. It also shames her, which might give her a reason not to do it again, and others a reason not to copy her. Pressing charges would be needlessly cruel, and in any case not worth the expense in time and money. As for offering her a job, do you want a thief working in your store?
anon
u were thinking how much she paid for the hair dye..I am thinking she couldnt shoplift those tatoos!
bochur
and her punishment is….. She gets to have her picture publicized on Chabad’s leading news outlet!
*chavi
Milhouse, for some reason I doubt she will be checking CH.info, so shame? I don’t think so..
ME!
good point Milhouse
C M
Why on Earth post her picture? She is a desperate woman trying to feed her family! Of course she did the wrong thing, but that doesn’t make it right for you to do the wrong thing. Since when does “moitzi laaz” only apply to Yidden?
amother
Truth is, she probably has a cell phone, and we all know how much phones cost these days, and how much the plans cost!
whatever
to C M- laaz can only be by a yid because a goy is passul to begin with. incidently rambam says that a goy who steals from a yid, horgim besaayif. oh also laaz is when the person is innocent. now i dont care wether this woman smokes crack or not but she sure at death and tax should not be around crown heights. it makes the real estate go down.
Yitzchak
The cause of this problem is a mindset within certain cultures that feel they are entitled to get whatever they need/want for free. In a way, wic and food stamps is part of the problem. Maybe charity work should be done by local organizations rather than the government. The saddest part of this is that this destructive culture is passed on from generation to generation, and, before long, you have four or five generations that were supported by government programs and it becomes alsmost impossible to wean off it.
Kop Doktar
Is it me, or is there not a tznius problem displaying a photo of a sleeveless female…oh, I forgot, in CH we are used to it.
pondering about life
As a mother of a baby, I can’t help feeling bad for the poor mother!!! Nebach, she had to stoop to the point of stealing food and fleeing so that she can hold on to her meager “purchases”. But it also makes me be sympathetic and realize that there must be many others from our community who also don’t have much food to feed their children. we must read this story and find a lesson for ourselves in bettering the life of our own community. Start with helping even one family- and if we all do- we’ll make a difference!
pg
she looks so rachmonus
bob grant
there we go again! reading your comments sounds just like listening to bob grant at his prime in the late 80s. welfare, entitled, subculture, blablabla.
seems like the CH.info readers spend too much time listening to consevative radio (and on the net).
what makes her more of a criminal then the fund raisers for the mosdos? is it only that she wears the paterns of their ties as a tatoo?!
baby food should be free for all to have.
brent dem hitel
11.67 for a pack of cupcakes, some baby food and dried fruit?!?
who is the REAL ganav here?!
she should have shoplifted at a non-kosher store, it would have “cost” her 4.79! not worth a summons.
out-of-towner
i love how somebody said, “well if she didn’t use her welfare check for crack…” um, excuse me, but how do you know she gets a welfare check or uses crack? do you know her personally, or is it because she’s black?
as for what yitzchak said, “The cause of this problem is a mindset within certain cultures that feel they are entitled to get whatever they need/want for free.”
yep. that accurately describes some other people in CH, besides the black residents. ahem.
Nochum
TO: Israeli Soldier (Chabadnik)
The punishment, according to gemora, for a thief who steals out of necessity is to work off the debt as a slave. the logic behind that halocha is that with a job and room and board (part of owning a slave is providing for him or her), the thief would be unlikely to steal again and would then acquire marketable skills and references to find a real job. whether this applies to a shiksa i don’t know, but if she is stealing baby food, her crime seems to be out of desperation.
C M
to “whatever”
You’re forgetting about “mipnei darkei sholom”, and the Lubavitcher Rebbe’s pirush of what that means.
C M
to “whatever”
and another point: you take an extremist approach in your opinion of “horgim besayif”. “Horgim besayif” applies only in extreme circumstances, even for a nit-yid even in the time of the sanhedrin.
You have to learn the Rebbe’s sichas before you talk like you do. See what the Rebbe’s opinion is on “lo maalin” is. The Rebbe had the utmost respect for the dignity and honor of goyim.
Hashem-s daughter
To I can’t believe it, hunger is no excuse for stealing!!!!! There are other alternatives, yes, feel bad, she had a hungry baby, but do not feel bad that she could not get away with stealing! It is forbidden for goyim to steal as well!
Melamud
It is very sad that people writing to this webpage assume the woman was an “illegal” or a “crack” user.
That’s sick and shows prejudice. Not very hasidic.
There are Jews, even many hasids, who are “illegals” and Jews who use “crack.”
I am appalled by the dislike of so many blacks and hispanics by the Crown Heights Jewish community. They say Crown Heights is a model of integration.
What a joke!
You are entitled to your own opinions, not your own facts, as Senator Moynihan used to say.
fsdfgr
think of it from her viewpoint. YOU would only steal if you were desperate. i highly doubt that was her motivation. she stole because “why not?” she thought she would get away with it at best and not suffer even if she got caught at worst. actually that’s what hapenned.
Elianah
I think there’s a lot of conjecture being bandied around in these comments…none of which any of you know for sure. Until you do, I think it’s best to say nothing. All you DO know are the facts and those are the ONLY thing you should be basing your commentary on. Shame on all of you for assuming facts you don’t know (welfare, crack, etc.) and condemning her for it.
David
the problem with crime in our community is partly caused by parents who do not teach their children respect, and parents who do not lead by example.
http://www.youtube.com/watc…
arbamidotleadam
I didn’t even read most of the comments but just the idea that everyone comments for something negative as opposed for the meager comments for most positive events.. is very sad.
elliyahu
What if it was a father and son in stroller, who took a bit more like $ 50 worth of goods…at which point do we put a bit of “PACHAD” into the ganuv. I would say that the right thing was to have the lady sit for at least 1 to 2 hrs to be investigated on her past history – then let her go. She’ll probably do it again. Watch.
kosher
yes, she may have been stealing food to feed her baby but I didn’t notice her trying to do this in Associated–why come to Kingston Ave.
annoyed
For all those who keep writing that she probably has a phone, and must have paid for tattoos some how, and that there are plenty of poor people in CH; What do you say to all those people who drive 2 brand new cars(which insurance is a fortune for), live in a beautiful large section 8 apartment, and receive all the other government funded services. What do say to all those people? It should be the same reaction. And on top of it all, the amount of FRUM kids that steal from the stores is outrageous!
Ollie
The photo should not have run.
And the webmaster should stop printing racist, anti-black comments.
Non-Jewish neighbors in Crown Heights, NYPD, and many others DO READ THIS and all the bigotry and racism reflects very poorly on Jews. A chilul Lubavitch for sure.
Benny
She looks pitiful after she was caught. If you want to do justice to the photo you would need to have a photo of her in the act of steeling. If crime, no matter how pitiful, is tolerated it will multiply exponentially. In any case I would withhold pity until I understood the whole picture.
i disagree with ollie
i disagree with ollie. ollie if you are trying to say this site is racist because they posted a photo of a shoplifter then YOU are the racist for noticing her color.
the editors here are colorblind but ollie is a racist
Mendele
All I can say is that “shoplifting” is a bad habit that people get used to out of desparity. Of course, good organizations can help provide these people with their need s so they won’t need to trun to this alternative. However, before judging another human being, a creation of Hashem, we should be thoughtful and realize or state of being and think how we could help.
With the help of the A-mighty we should get along peacefully with our neighbors and instead of judging in this instance (contrast to a biased crime) let’s see to help.
Pinchos
I am a fundraiser for a mosod, what wrong am I doing?
me
no excuses for stealing
none what so ever
whatever
to C M – my point was simple. the din of laaz can apply only regarding a yid.
you ask “Since when does “moitzi laaz” only apply to Yidden?”. well moitzi laaz is a fantastic quote, but yes C M, it does only apply to yidden.
you are absolutely correct in that my quote from rambam was harsh. i apologize for coming off this way. the point i was trying to make was more towards the rest of the comments saying to have rachmanus on her. the rachmanus should be on crown heights. ultimately however, with the very same outcome, namely to rehabilitate her.
Isreali Soldeir (chabadnik)
To Nachum:
Its very nice and all to quote the Gemarah but since we can have slaves these days i dont see how that would work.
also i see a lot of ppl posting shame on us for thinking she a crack user or other such comments its obvious from your comments that you are out of towner’s since anyone who at least lived her for a few good years and not in the center of CH knows that almost all the goyim here are lowlifes. so it is easy to judge that she is a user and probably got that baby from other less respectful acts. fact is fact there is never a good reason to steal no matter how hungry or how poor you are yes its sad that her own community doesnt help her out in the jewish community BH there are some ppl who do there best to help out our families in need but by the svartzes they could care less about there own… so why should we let everything slide why should we have pity just cuz we are heart bleeding jews enough i say its time we took back our community. BH she was caught BH they gave her the benefit of the doubt by not pressing charges that she will try to see its not worth it and get a job.
if she came into your home to steal her baby food i doubt you would be so kind neither should we in our stores let her steal from her own ppl…
Tricia
You know what I find sad? She is sitting there, hair all nice and done and coloring/cutting aint’ cheap… PLUS tattoo’s.. perhaps if she had NOT done that, she could have food?