‘My jaw dropped’: Okanagan store owner alleges trio conspired to shoplift

A small business owner in B.C., after reviewing security camera footage, alleges a trio conspired to shoplift from her store.

“It honestly looked like a senior, like a grandmother, a daughter and a granddaughter,” True Art owner Diane Geddes told Global News.

According to Geddes, the three females walked into her small, two-year-old business in Kelowna, B.C., apparently for some Christmas shopping.

However, after they left, a store employee noticed an amethyst necklace was missing, which led to other items missing as well.

“My jaw dropped,” said Geddes, adding the amount stolen will be in the hundreds of dollars range. “I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, like you’re kidding me.’”

Geddes claims her store’s security video shows many items being stolen as they walked through the store, with the oldest woman taking the most and the other two distracting the clerk.

0:38 Video footage of shoplifting in Okanagan store

“They were working together,” said Geddes, adding they seemed professional.

“At one point, they even came to the other end of the store and she had to empty her purse because she had so much stuff in there. She couldn’t fit it all in there.”

Geddes said the women bought a couple of small items, with the two younger ones leaving while the older one stayed behind.

1:58 Okanagan business owner speaks after alleged shoplifter let go

“She went back again to one of the corner sections with her bag that we gave her and put more stuff in her bag,” said Geddes.

Kelowna RCMP say they’re investigating and are actively pursuing leads, thanks to video surveillance.

Geddes says “Someone has to recognize these people. We’re a small town, we’re not that big, especially when you have three generations’ worth of people in here. Somebody has to recognize somebody.”

She added that it’s especially disappointing that the vast majority of products that were stolen came from local vendors.

“We never thought something like this would happen,” said Geddes, noting her store isn’t a big corporation but she’s beefed up her security cameras from four to seven and is also bolstering staff levels.

“So the fact that we have somebody who’s stealing from locals is completely unacceptable.”