Former Consignment Shop Owner Serving Prison Sentence

Lifted Legos turned into a jail sentence for a Merrimack woman and former business owner who is spending a year in prison for stealing thousands of the popular toy from Nashua stores in 2011.

Meredith Moore-Flores, 35, of 2 McClure Lane, pleaded guilty in January to three counts of theft – two misdemeanor charges and a felony charge – during a plea and sentencing hearing in January in Hillsborough County Superior Court North, where she also faced a similar theft charge out of Bedford.

Flores, the former owner of Always New 2 You consignment shop, was indicted in January 2012, about a year prior to her plea hearing on Jan. 4 (she was scheduled for a February trials), on three counts of theft by unauthorized taking. The charges stemmed from incidents in August, September and November of 2011.

According to the indictments, Flores, then-33, allegedly stole 11 sets of Legos valued at more then $1,000, during the Aug. 13 theft at Target. The charge constituted a class B felony. The subsequent misdemeanor indictments allege Flores stole three sets of Legos and a cradle swing from Target on Sept. 30 and nine sets of Legos from Toys R Us on Nov. 3.The latter thefts totaled less than $1,000 each, according to the indictments.

According to Flores' court file in Hillsborough County Superior Court South in Nashua, she requested to have her cases bound over to Hillsborough North for a global hearing in front of one justice, Judge Kenneth Brown, due to the similar nature of the crimes.

She pleaded guilty on all counts and Brown sentenced her to 12 months in prison for each of her misdemeanor charges. On the felony charge, she was sentenced to two to five years in prison, all suspended pending good behavior. Her 12 month-sentences will run concurrently and according to court paperwork, began on Jan.11.

Further conditions of her sentencing included probation of two years following her release from prison and restitution paid to Target in the amounts of $564.96 and $1,4129.89, and completion of counseling programs.

Flores is a mother of four children who was also convicted in 2009 of skimming more than $60,000 from her former employer, Insight Technologies, according to an article in the Nashua Telegraph. After being fired from that job, but before any charges were filed, Flores and husband Albert opened Always New 2 You in the former Blockbuster video store in the old Shaw's Plaza.

When she got into legal trouble, she closed the store abruptly leaving many consignors in the lurch and her now-estranged husband to deal with the customers and a pile of unpaid bills.