Woman says she's been shoplifting for 20 to 30 years
By Andy Steinke, Dells Events
Lake Delton Police arrested a shoplifter Saturday afternoon who said she has been stealing on and off for 20 or 30 years.
Officers arrested Barbara Anderson, 62, of Oxford, at Tanger Outlet Center around 2:30 p.m. for stealing nearly $1,000 worth of merchandise from seven mall stores.
An Easy Spirit employee, Liane Fisher, called police saying she saw Anderson stealing shoes by placing them into her shopping bag and walking out of the store, according to a police report.
Fisher said she saw Anderson go out to her vehicle, put the shoes in the SUV and then walk back into the mall, into the Eddie Bauer store.
Officer Michael Horkheimer found Anderson in the store with two large Eddie Bauer bags and a large shopping bag. He asked Anderson to step outside and asked her if she had anything with her or in her vehicle that she hadn’t pay for.
Anderson initially denied stealing anything, but when asked again she confessed to stealing from several mall stores.
She said the items were in her SUV, and said she had been at the mall since noon.
Anderson said most of the merchandise in her vehicle was stolen, and said she paid for some items from the stores and then went back into the stores to steal with the bags she had gotten.
The thefts were not witnessed in the six other mall stores — Eddie Bauer, Harry & David, Naturalizer, Van Heusen, L’eggs Hanes Bali Playtex and Coldwater Creek — but Anderson confessed to stealing from the stores.
Anderson was taken to the Sauk County jail and charged with seven counts of shoplifting. She told police she was caught stealing about 10 years ago, but Wisconsin online court records do not reflect any charges against her in Wisconsin.
Anderson told police she could have paid for the items she had stolen, and said she steals on and off when she is under a lot of stress.