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STEVE THOMPSONAuthorities ask for help as they seek suspects in two cases, including one in which a woman was recorded on a surveillance camera.
Whoever she is, she was caught on a Dillard's surveillance camera last month. With her tank top cut low and her hair in a bun, she shoved more than $400 worth of watches and another $45 in key chains into her jeans' pockets, Pasco County sheriff's detectives say.
Detectives hope someone will recognize her and turn her in. And they'd like to send a message to this woman and other shoplifters: We are after you.
"The bottom line is we all pay for it with higher prices," sheriff's spokesman Kevin Doll said Wednesday.
Shoplifting is a major problem in Pasco, as it is elsewhere, Doll said, and it is a problem the Sheriff's Office takes very seriously.
"We receive reports on it every day," he said. "Whether it's gas drive-offs or merchandise at clothing or food stores, every merchant has the potential to become the victim and probably is the victim of retail theft."
When accosted by Dillard's security on April 29, the woman in the photo ran out of the store. She broke free of one manager and pushed several sales clerks on her way out of Gulf View Square mall to a waiting cab.
So if detectives find her, Doll said, she'll be arrested on a charge of strong arm robbery, not a lesser charge such as shoplifting or grand theft.
In an incident at the Beall's in Hudson, two men and a woman were caught Tuesday putting more than $1,000 worth of shirts into a plastic bag.
Approached by store security, one of the men dropped the bag and ran for the parking lot. He dived into a waiting car that nearly struck a guard as it sped away.
Sheriff's officials are calling this crime not only grand theft, but also aggravated assault. No arrests had been made Wednesday.
Anyone with information about either crime is asked to call the Sheriff's Office at 1-800-854-2862. If you have information about the woman in the photo, dial ext. 7462. If you have information about the other case, wait for an operator and ask for the Major Crimes Unit.