Current Conditions
76°F - SUNNY
Mother, daughter charged in grocery theft scam
Intelligencer Journal
Jan 06, 2009 00:35 EST
Lancaster
By BRETT HAMBRIGHT, Staff Writer

A mother and daughter from Mountville were charged Monday with running scams at a Manheim Township grocery store.

Jenna L. Martin, 24, is accused of "under-ringing" groceries for her mother while working as a cashier at Giant Food Store on Lititz Pike.

On two occasions, the mother, Shirley L. Updegrove, 46, filled a shopping cart with more than $200 in groceries, Manheim Township police spokesman Sgt. Tom Rudzinski said.

At checkout, her daughter would scan only one of the items and bag the rest without charging for them, police allege.

Martin also is charged with stealing $630 in gift cards while working at Giant. Updegrove hasn't been charged in connection with those thefts.

In all, the scams cost Giant about $1,100, investigators said. Updegrove paid for about $5 in groceries during her two trips to the store, police said.

Martin is charged with five counts of theft and two counts of retail theft. Updegrove is charged with two counts of retail theft.

The pair live together at 371 Primrose Lane, according to investigators.

The alleged crimes happened between Nov. 26 and Dec. 2, police said. Store officials became aware of the thefts when they traced the stolen gift cards to Martin.

The women will be summoned to court to face the charges at a later date, police said.

E-mail: bhambright@lnpnews.com


Recent Posts
Showing 5 most recent comments out of 28 total TalkBack comments about this article
View full comments | Comment on this article
QUOTE (LancasterDoc @ Jan 6 2009, 11:41 AM)
How do you apologists live with yourselves? In your view, can people ever do anything wrong or is everything explained and rationalized as they are "oppressed" and misunderstood? Don't you people understand you are just enabling these criminals (let's call a spade a spade). Let me guess, you would coddle these idiots and throw more money at them in the form of welfare....right????


Hey Doc,

If they did this they are guilty and should do the time they get. Must be tough to be perfect like you. Ever write any script for the drugs the companies that give you all the stuff? Ever give the vicodin to the guy who claims to be hurt with out giving him a full exam? Ever report any of you peers who are abusing medications themselves?

That's right, you are beyond reproach due to your profession.

These two clowns deserve what they get but you are still a horses !profanity!
zippy98
QUOTE (LancasterDoc @ Jan 6 2009, 11:41 AM)
How do you apologists live with yourselves? In your view, can people ever do anything wrong or is everything explained and rationalized as they are "oppressed" and misunderstood? Don't you people understand you are just enabling these criminals (let's call a spade a spade). Let me guess, you would coddle these idiots and throw more money at them in the form of welfare....right????

again doc, since you are not a native american we have a constuitution. in it is the bill of rights. one of them says we are innocent until proven guilty. now that dump you came from might not have rights like we do, so if you like it better there go back, elsewise please don't complain about our constituional rights because a lot of good people died protecting and defending them.
ain't it funny the token liberal has to explain this to all the "patriotic" americans.LOL
oh and dr stupid...they ain't criminals until convicted.

geesh get a copy of the constitution will ya?LOL
justplainjoe
This is really small potatoes. One "local" Giant location had $70k+ in meats alone stolen from it in a years time 10 or so years ago when it opened. I'm amazed it took them that long to miss the cash. People were pushing whole carts full of meat out the door and not paying for it.
Sprawl
QUOTE (LocalWm @ Jan 6 2009, 08:37 AM)
When I read things like this I just shake my head. How can people be so stupid? There are cameras everywhere in these grocery stores, especially over the cash registers! I'm surprised they even allowed this girl to wait on her mother to begin with. Stupidity, you gotta laugh at some of it.


Based on experience with 16 years in the supermarkets rest assured this is not uncommon. I worked for Pathmark when I lived in N.J. and the registers were constantly monitored by the computers. If they suspected that this was going on they would just cue in on the register and watch the order and then double check it . At times security would pose as a shopper. When a markets profit is on;y about 1% every dollar needs watching. Shoplifting alone costs the industry immensely.
I even worked with a store manager who had a ghost on the payroll. The dummy was caught when he got transferred and brought the ghost with him. Do you think they may have suspected something?
CUBSFAN3150
QUOTE (zippy98 @ Jan 6 2009, 04:12 PM)
Hey Doc,

If they did this they are guilty and should do the time they get. Must be tough to be perfect like you. Ever write any script for the drugs the companies that give you all the stuff? Ever give the vicodin to the guy who claims to be hurt with out giving him a full exam? Ever report any of you peers who are abusing medications themselves?

That's right, you are beyond reproach due to your profession.

These two clowns deserve what they get but you are still a horses !profanity!

This guy is not a real Doctor. He just plays one here on Talk Back.
Nick Danger
Top Ads