Means >> all these stuff I had on me. >> I did be in prison time. I I don't get out parole until November. >> You were going to pay for some of them, not all of them. >> So, what are you >> No. >> On May 31st, 2023, Clark County, Georgia officers responded to Academy Sports and Outdoors after loss prevention reported a woman concealing close to $1,000 in merchandise inside her clothing still inside the store. Under Georgia code section 16-8-14, the offense completes at concealment with intent. She did not need to reach the exit. Her claim that she planned to return the items is not a defense the statute recognizes. >> She's still inside? >> Yes, but the bottom of her shirt was I think that it was the funeral. >> What? >> Funeral and her pants is padded. >> Okay. She she She put a shirt on like under her shirt? >> The guy that was watching the video room said he thinks she has a shirt on under. >> Okay. He >> Same shirt he knows. He's He's We're not sure about the shirt, but under the pants he has on is actually the padding. >> Okay. >> What? >> Padded. >> He said She's still putting it in front of her pants. >> Is she still wearing a black and white striped shirt? >> Black and white striped shirt with a kind of like jeans bottom with the prints on it. >> Okay. >> And in the video you can see the prints on the CD. >> You said she's in the fitting room? >> No, in the middle of the store she left. >> Okay. Okay. >> Listen, I think you guys might have her you guys >> Six seven central units on scene. >> Hey. >> Hey, where she at? >> She's in the bathroom. >> Okay, I'll see her. She's over here. >> And all the stuff is just >> Okay. All right, ma'am. Let's put that down, okay? >> Huh? >> I'm Officer Cornellson. Let's go ahead and put that down, okay? >> What are you talking about? >> Set the rest of your clothes down. I'm going to talk to you over here, okay? >> Okay. I had nothing on me. >> Okay. >> Everything I had I paid. Like these are mine. I'm just going to take them off. What shirt? >> You The shirt that you just lifted up. >> What shirt? What shirt are you talking about? These? >> All right. You're padded right here. >> Yeah, that's that's Yeah, because I had I wasn't going to steal anything, sir. I promise you I wasn't. >> Let's put it all down and let's go talk to you here, okay? >> Sir, I wasn't going to steal anything. >> Okay. >> Like I was >> Come on out here. Let's come talk. >> I'm going to check it out. >> Okay. >> I promise you I don't want to steal. >> Okay. >> I don't know. I'm going to go >> But I've already asked you twice. Okay, so [music] let's just leave what we have and let's go talk over here, okay? Is there anything else on you? >> No. >> There's a >> I was going to work that out. I was going to say I just I just I promise you this why I went out the door here. Like I was so scared and that's why I was acting like I was looking for a phone cuz I was >> Anything else? >> Let's see. I said I was going to go to the dressing room to take >> Let's talk. >> I said I was going >> What? Over here. >> I said I was going to go to the dressing room to take everything off. >> Hey. You You left butt. >> I want to go back to the store with you. I promise you I wasn't. Please. I got four cheese, y'all. I didn't I couldn't even feel them, y'all. I've got >> It's right here. >> Huh? >> Behind Right here. >> Y'all don't put me in jail. I wasn't. Right where? Only thing that's on me, though I promise you I said I wasn't going to bother nobody. That's why I was scared about the phone. That's why I was laughing and >> Is that it? >> Let's see. >> Come on out here. >> I don't think I'm going to make it to the door. >> But I didn't even leave the That's not That's not what we're saying, okay? That's not what we're saying. >> Don't worry me, y'all. >> Look, that's not what we're saying. Just okay, you can talk to me. >> Please. >> Look, you're talking to me right now, okay? We're not talking to him, okay? If you could, Rohan would would you just get all of that stuff up that Is that what's in the buggy? Okay. >> See how big it is? >> All right. What's your name? >> Kendra. >> Kendra Do you have your license on you? >> No. >> No. What's your date of birth, Kendra? >> 88 >> Okay. >> Sir, I don't want >> What were you What were you in prison for before? >> I was I was in prison for I was in prison for shoplifting, sir. Okay. I don't I don't know I don't know why. I learned my lesson. That's why I really tried like acting like I was looking for a phone or whatever. You know what I'm saying? I would act like I was looking for a phone cuz I was trying to steal. >> This ain't yours. >> Oh, sorry. Oh, sorry. I'm so sorry. >> So what's the deal? >> Please, y'all. Can y'all please just let me go? I want to go back. >> Go on. Kendra. >> I'm going to >> Bring them down. >> Y'all I'm so scared to go out the door, y'all. >> Kendra. >> I was so scared to go out the door. >> Stop. Stop it. Hey. It's a while. >> Please, Lord. Please, Jesus. Please, >> What were you What were you What were you doing? >> Huh? >> What were you doing? >> What I doing? >> Yeah. >> I was I was acting like I got a phone. Huh? >> What were you doing with all those clothes stuffed in your pants? >> In my in my pants? I was just trying some stuff off the rack. I was just stuffing and stuffing. I didn't want My intention was to probably try to get steal. >> Okay. >> But I was so scared and nervous that I was acting telling her that I was helping her look for a phone because I was going to go straight to the dressing room and take it all out. And that's why I was like, "Please, y'all. This is all good." And it's true. I would have been out the door. Like I have I had a history of shoplifting. I was in prison for shoplifting. >> How many times have you been arrested for shoplifting? >> Four. >> Four? >> Four times. I was on probation. >> Probation? >> When I'm on parole. >> Oh, you're on parole? For shoplifting? >> And they're going to violate me, so they're going to send me to prison. >> So what What are we doing this, Kendra? >> Please, y'all. >> Talk Talk to us honestly, okay? What are we doing this? >> Honestly, okay. This is what I was doing, dude. My baby got a dance coming up this week. But it's true. I don't even stay up here. I stay >> Your baby got a what? >> coming up. >> Oh. >> I stay in Hamilton Gardens. She dances these She dances with these girls or whatever. And I I basically I'll try to get the money up to pay pay the fine, y'all. You can call my mom and you can ask her. >> So so you were you were taking the clothes. Why? >> Huh? >> Why were you taking the clothes? >> I had I had Basically it was my intention was I was intentionally trying to pay something for my baby. >> You were going to pay for some of them, not all of them. So were you >> No, I I was going to I was going to try I was going to pay for that. >> Were you going to say are you going to pay for that? >> So before So just slow down, okay? Let me go over it with you, okay? So were you saying that you were going to the things that you were maybe intending to take, you were trying to sell them. I got you. I got you, but you were trying but listen to me. You were going to sell them so you could pay off your daughter's dance. Is that what it was? >> Yeah, it did like the most of that. Like I don't know. I'm just freaking right now. >> So listen to me, okay? Listen. It's time to be honest, okay? Well, I'm just telling you. It's time to be honest. You did what you did. Now we have to deal with it, okay? So just tell us what >> Huh? >> You're You're saying that you went to >> I I was not going to steal them. I I >> But you just said that you were going to you were going to take take those clothes to help pay for your daughter's dance. >> No, I said you said why I was doing this. I said my baby got a dance next week. I said I was going to try to pay for her dance out of some of this stuff. I would have bought this I could have bought this stuff I had my hand >> Do you Do you Do you remember about 5 minutes 5 minutes about 2 minutes ago when you said that that you your intention you think that your intention probably was to steal them? >> If If my If If my intention was to probably try to get steal. >> You don't >> No, I don't remember that. I would have said that yes, that I was going to I was going to I was scared that I would play like I would I would my intention to go back to the dressing room and take that stuff out for me. Whatever I tried on or whatever I had. You know what I'm saying? I tried them on. My intention was to take that stuff back out of me. That's why I had her. That's why I had her with me this before cuz I was going to ask her ask her. I didn't even ask her to not go back to the dressing dressing room. I said before I leave out of here I got to go to the dressing room. She like just go pack your things before we close. I was not going to go out and go with the clothes, sir. I was scared like it was on my heart. This is my first time stealing trying to steal anything or put anything on me since I've been out of prison, Lord. >> How long have you been out? A month you said? >> No, I've been out since November. I've been working ever since. >> Where do you work at? >> Working I work in Albertson. I work in I work in Hartwell. I work at Nestle Purina, but I live in Albertson. >> I'm from Hartwell. My mom's from Albertson, so I I know all about that. >> Okay, that's why I work in Albertson. And I live in Albertson County. >> You good to hear for a second? >> Yeah, pardon me. >> Here, stay over here, Kendra. Stay over here talk to me, okay? So >> Please pardon me. >> Look look, we don't know what's going to happen, okay? There's a lot of stuff that we got to talk to you about, okay? >> Oh oh >> First of all, we got to figure out how much all of that was going to be, okay? Second of all >> I didn't steal all of that. >> Listen to me, okay? Disguising clothes underneath your clothes, stuffing them down. And I I know that you're going to say that you do not remember saying this, but I have it on body cam, okay? You 2 and 1/2 minutes ago saying that you think your intention probably Are you wanting to prosecute? >> Yes. >> probably was to take it. And then and then you explained >> Why did I say that, sir? I said I was scared >> explained and then you explained that it was because of your daughter's dance, which we're trying to be reasonable with you. We're trying to be gentle with you, okay? I understand that. >> But this is all stupid. Please they going to take you So that is so listen and in Clark County, okay, there's a a couple of different things here. Are you listening to me? Are you following? Okay, cuz I need you to listen to everything I'm saying, okay? I need you to listen to everything I'm saying, okay? So in Clark County, the the option for a citation is a thing, but first of all, you have a criminal history, a deep criminal history of shoplifting. Second of all, if it's over $500, then then the citation isn't isn't a possibility, okay? So that's what we're trying to work out, okay? But I need you to simmer down cuz you're starting to make me Look, I There's a lot of people around. So she had a bunch of merchandise in her uh Let's not keep yelling. There's a lot of people out here, okay? Pants and in her shirt. Let's not keep yelling cuz this is just going to make more people stay. I'm going to have to have you uh go ahead and do a search for me. I would appreciate it, okay? Can you just >> stand up? Talk to me, okay? Look, you're you're a grown-up, okay? Let's stand up. >> want to fight, Lord. >> Thank you. >> You did this to yourself. >> I'm aware. I'm aware. I got you. Stand up. >> I got to finish blowing my fire. Yes. Sir, I don't have I don't have Okay. >> That would hurt. >> finished blowing my fire. >> Go ahead. >> It'll be out of style now. You know I have a lot of stuff in my >> Come on. Stop talking. >> All right, we're over here to be a little bit more discreet, so I got to search you. Let me Keep your hands up. No, face me. Hands up like that. Okay, listen to me. It don't matter if you laughed, it's the fact that you did it. >> No, I cuz I I had some right here. >> Okay. Well, stop. Keep your hands Keep your hands up. Can you be still, please? >> Yeah. >> So, be still. >> Oh, I'm sorry. >> If Officer Teets says it again, I'm going to put you in handcuffs while she searches you, okay? >> No, I'm trying to. I don't >> You're not trying to be still. Either you're high and you don't know how to be still or you're not listening to >> I don't do no >> Well, then be still. >> Period. Sir, ma'am. You got from South Carolina? >> I am. >> What did I say, sir? What did I say? >> All right, turn around. >> All the way around? >> So, I can't tell. Turn around. Keep your arms up. Did I tell you to turn around? Stay. Or you could have just not shoplifted and we wouldn't have to do this. >> I didn't shoplift, ma'am. >> You still you still stuff in your pants? >> you say? >> Yeah, that's shoplifting. >> My sister told me to not go out the door. >> So, typically mine senses when I used to go to stores I don't shove stuff in my pants and then pull it out at the register. So, that's just not a common behavior. >> Um >> Okay. >> Hey. >> Manager was standing behind you. >> Yeah. >> He said I don't know I don't know if he told you all that but he said that she wanted to fight him last time that he was here. >> Oh, really? >> saying stay close to her. >> Okay. Huh? >> Uh nothing else? No other merchandise? >> Not that I could find. >> You were an adult. You You have decided to come in here and do this. We all make mistakes, right? But you are an adult. So, the time for like the crying and stuff you can't be doing that right now, okay? Cuz you got to start talking to us. So, so tell me one more time. >> Mhm. >> Okay. Don't lie to me. I already know that you came in here with the intent to steal that. Otherwise, you wouldn't have concealed them items, right? So, how about how about you be a little truthful with me and let me let me kind of figure this out. So, go ahead and tell me why you came here. >> I came here to buy some stuff. My baby got She dance with these dancing dolls people. >> Mhm. >> I came here to buy some stuff. >> Okay. >> But and the time I tried to buy some stuff I stuffed some stuff. But my heart was so heavy. My heart was so Like it was like tears. Like I even asked her if I could go back to the dressing room cuz I was going to >> Yeah. >> Well, she said no. Go. You can ask her. She said no. Go pay for your items >> Mhm. >> before we close cuz she kept telling me I go check. I check dressing room for your phone. I even made up a lie that I lost my phone just so I could stay in here so I could take this stuff. I don't need to. I was scared. I can't walk out of here though, y'all. >> Okay. >> I did do here prison time. I don't I don't get out on parole until November. You feel me? I know I got a >> Till November? >> Yes, I know I got a history. I shoplifted the items. If I go to jail today, >> Mhm. >> I'm going back to prison. >> Yep. It's already there. >> It's already there. >> Yeah. Not yet. We We already know what's felony. >> Okay. It's a felony anyway. But I did All this stuff, sir. I had all this stuff on me. >> So so so why why why I understand I understand what you're telling me. >> That you wanted to take this >> I wanted to I wanted to When I was first My teacher was talking to us about this. >> I'm going to ask you questions. Okay? So. I already know that you had the You're saying that you had the intent to put that stuff back. And that was Why Why did you Why did you come here in the first place? Why Why did you want to come steal? >> No, I didn't come here to steal. >> Okay. So what At what point did you decide that you were going to try to conceal these items? >> Huh? >> At what point did you try to start stuffing stuff in your pants? >> At what point? >> Yeah. >> When I was trying I When I was trying to stuff on >> Yeah, you were trying to stuff on and that's when you started >> I was trying to stuff I was trying to stuff on, sir. >> Okay. >> All right. I was I was trying >> and put your hands behind your back. >> [music] >> So you're under arrest for shoplifting, okay? It is felony. >> Mhm. >> Right? 94 Central 1095 How many times? [music] >> Three. >> Yes, so this is your fourth fourth conviction. >> Oh, please. >> Let me ask you this, okay? We've already searched you. I already know that you ain't got nothing else on you. All right? So let me ask you this. >> Please. >> Are your kids here? >> Mhm. >> Did you come alone? >> I got dropped off. >> You got dropped off? >> Something to go with you, yes. Is there any personal >> Any personal property that you have with you? >> Anything, yes. >> No? >> No money. >> Your money, where's that at? >> It's in my bra. >> In your bra? Oh. >> Where was it in your bra cuz I didn't feel any money in your bra. >> It probably dropped out at the register. >> Well, we can I'll send an officer over there to look for it, okay? Right now, you are under arrest for felony shoplifting, okay? Let's go out Let's go out here. >> Um that bag of stuff or the buggy of stuff that has her uh clothes and all that stuff in it. Um did y'all find any cash in it? >> Mhm. >> No cash at all? >> the one who did it. I know there was nothing else in there. >> Okay, I'm going to just search. Rohan, would you like her barred? >> No, leave her alone. >> Huh? All right, go ahead and tell her how long she's barred for. >> for 2 years. >> Okay. All right. >> That's not on me. >> [bell] >> She had another pair of shorts over there. >> Where was it? >> Behind the counter. >> Sure. >> Oh. >> So the whole pair of shorts got added to that ticket. >> Uh it was beyond that. >> How much was it before the shorts? >> Something hundred, something hundred. Yeah, yeah, yeah, it was there. >> Okay, it's felony anyway, so it's fine. Thank you. >> Um I didn't steal anything. >> I know. I know. >> How much I took is forever to say. I didn't steal but I did not steal in my >> Over $700. >> Trust me, you're lying. >> No? >> I told >> I have an itemized list. >> My list. Come on now, you know I didn't have all that stuff on me. I took it out of my pocket out. That I took >> Listen, I don't know how much that stuff cost. They just they >> That that all of these things >> Okay. >> I didn't have to steal anything. >> Okay. All right, go ahead and have a seat. Okay. >> Nothing. I didn't steal nothing. I didn't go out the door with anything. >> Okay, Kendra. >> No, nothing. I had two items on me. Two items on me. And I said I had no more than three. And I said, "Shop lifter? $700? All that stuff in my hand they said I had? all night. That That going to That going to do the camera. I don't get the camera. You You don't even have them. Just you go by what I told you that I tried clothes on. My chick going to come here and come take this stuff out and say I'm going to steal. You know me? >> It is a felony, yes, ma'am. >> I had two shirts in my pants, sir. They don't They don't and like >> A shirt and two pair of >> Shirts in my in my pants. I stole five items. Ain't no way they add up to $700. Ain't no way. >> As always, loss prevention had a first-hand visual of the concealment. Under Illinois versus Gates, that clears probable cause, not just reasonable suspicion. The detention was lawful from the moment officers arrived. The pat-down was authorized under Georgia code section 17-5-1 search incident to lawful arrest. Once probable cause existed, officers needed neither a warrant nor her consent. At the 4-minute 52 mark, she said on camera, "My intention was probably to steal." That came before any Miranda warning appears in the footage while officers were directing questions at her about intent. That sequence is the case's core legal problem. Miranda versus Arizona requires a rights advisement before custodial interrogation. Custody is not about handcuffs. It is whether a reasonable person would feel free to leave. The Supreme Court confirmed that standard in Berkemer versus McCarty. By the time those questions were asked, she had been searched, and told she could not leave. A reasonable person does not feel free to walk out of that. Custody had almost certainly attached before the interrogation began. If a court agrees, the admission is suppressible under the fruit of the poisonous tree doctrine established in Wong Sun versus United States. The defense files that motion and the prosecution loses its strongest piece of evidence. The saving factor may be spontaneity. Courts separate responses to directed questioning from volunteered disclosures. If some statements were made before officers directed her, those might survive. That distinction will determine how much of this holds up at a suppression hearing. The felony threshold is $500 under Georgia code section 16-8-14. Confirmed value before the final item was added, $793.62. Felony from the start. She was on active parole for shoplifting. Under Georgia code section 42-9-51, a new felony arrest triggers automatic revocation. This did not just add a new sentence, it reopened the one already running. Felony shoplifting in Georgia carries 1 to 10 years at sentencing. With consecutive parole revocation time stacked on top, her real exposure is substantially larger than the single charge makes it appear. Officer Cornelison gets a B+. Calm, patient, no escalation. He identified the felony threshold accurately and explained it clearly in real time. The Miranda timing is the defining concern directed intent questions before a rights advisement created a real suppression vulnerability. He also called her high on camera with nothing to support it. Unsupported sobriety inferences do not belong in the official record. Small detail, but exactly the kind of defense attorney will use. Officer Teets gets an A-. Lawful pat down, relocated to a semi-private area, no procedural concerns visible. Solid execution. Limited camera time on her is the only reason for the minus. The subject gets a C+. She did not physically resist, that counts. But she gave officers a direct on-camera admission of criminal intent without anyone compelling her to speak. A Fifth Amendment right to silence was available the entire time. She never invoked it. She then contradicted herself repeatedly trying to walk the admission back. Repeated voluntary disclosures signal voluntariness to a court, which makes her suppression argument significantly harder than it would have been with a simple refusal to speak. Three lessons. First, concealment is the crime, not the exit. Stuffing merchandise into clothing with intent to steal completes the offense in Georgia. Second thoughts at the door do not undo what happened in the fitting room. Second, silence is a constitutional right, not an admission of guilt. Once you are not free to leave, you are in custody. Talking without invoking that right, especially in a rambling, self-contradicting way, is the worst possible move. Third, Miranda timing is the officer's call, and getting it wrong has consequences. The reasonable person standard determines when custody begins, not handcuffs. Directing intent questions before that advisement puts the prosecution's best evidence at risk. That is not a technicality. It is a doctrine the Supreme Court has enforced for six decades because coerced confessions corrupt outcomes. Getting the sequence right protects the arrest and the conviction that should follow. Let us know if there's an interaction or legal topic you would like us to cover in the comments below. Thank you for watching, and do not forget to check out our channel for more police interaction and courtroom content.