From Art Campos:
Two 13-year-old girls were arrested during the weekend for allegedly shoplifting clothing and accessory items from at least eight stores at the Galleria at Roseville, police reported.
The reported crime spree ended at 4:25 p.m. Saturday when security officers at one of the stores apprehended and held them for police, who booked them on suspicion of burglary and conspiracy at the Placer County Juvenile Detection Center in Auburn, said Roseville Police Department spokeswoman Dee Dee Gunther.
One of the girls is from Roseville and the other is from Citrus Heights, she said.
"Often, teenagers think that shoplifting is easy, that they are not likely to get caught and that there are no serious consequences," Gunther said. "In fact, shoplifting is a serious crime. Stores certainly take it seriously and have sophisticated security systems in place to detect and apprehend shoplifters."
Gunther said Roseville police arrested 689 shoplifters in 2007 and that many were prosecuted on charges of petty theft, burglary or robbery.
She noted that if someone enters a business with the intent to steal, a misdemeanor petty theft could be upgraded to burglary, which is a felony. If shoplifters resist or fight with store personnel or anyone trying to detain them, the crime is upgraded to robbery, a serious violent felony, she said.
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