Crime Report: Women Accused of Shoplifting Cigarettes from Gas Station

A officer was refueling his patrol vehicle July 26 at , 45350 Ford Road, when he noticed a group of women nearby entering a car and driving away. A truck driver informed the officer the women had been involved in a theft, according to a police report.

A store employee told police two women were inside the store, and one woman had filled an iced drink and dropped it on the floor. When the employee went to retrieve a mop, one woman had already left and the woman who dropped the drink told the employee she was sorry and left the store, the report said. The employee then noticed a Newport cigarette rack had been pulled out with about five packs of cigarettes missing.

The employee gave police a possible license plate number, and police ran similar plates, leading to a 1999 Pontiac coupe parked at Village Green West. The woman who answered the door told police she had taken another woman to the store for cigarettes, but said she was only an acquaintance through an acquaintance. The woman told police the other woman gave her a pack of cigarettes, which she didn’t know was stolen.

Police met with the second woman, who admitted to taking two packs of cigarettes, giving one to the driver and one for herself. She told police it was the driver’s idea to steal the cigarettes. Police retrieved an unopened pack of Newport cigarettes from the second woman’s residence.

Police asked the gas station employee to have her manager make a copy of surveillance video. Police were to follow up on the case after further investigation, the report said.

For questions about this crime report, email john.mckay@patch.com.