Crime & Safety
Woman Nabbed in Black Friday Shoplifting Scheme in Burnsville
Theresa Mary Ellis of Otsego is charged with felony theft after police say she and an accomplice stashed more than $1,400 worth of merchandise into bags on the morning of Black Friday and left the store.
An Otsego woman has been charged with perpetrating a Black Friday shoplifting scheme in Burnsville.
Theresa Mary Ellis, 39, faces a felony charge of theft in Dakota County. The charge carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $10,000 fine.
According to the criminal complaint, Burnsville police were called to the J.C. Penney store at Burnsville Center just after 7 a.m. Nov. 25.
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The store’s loss prevention officers told police that Ellis and a second woman had been caught on surveillance video, selecting “numerous items of clothing and small kitchen appliances,” putting them into bags and leaving the store without paying for them, apparently relying on the Black Friday confusion to get away with their loot.
The women were stopped outside. The second unidentified woman left the scene; store employees brought Ellis back inside and called police.
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The items were valued at more than $1,400.
Ellis is free on bond. An omnibus hearing in her case is scheduled for Feb. 21 in Dakota County District Court in Hastings.
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