Woman arrested after Target reported that her repeated shoplifting was ‘getting out of hand’
Staff report
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Brittany Marie Lopez, 36, was arrested yesterday for shoplifting after a Target employee told a police officer that her repeated shoplifting was “getting out of hand.” Additional charges are expected.
On March 18, a Target Loss Prevention Officer (LPO) contacted a Gainesville Police Department Detective about Lopez, saying she had come into the store nine times in the past 30 days; according to the LPO, she always loads up a shopping cart and takes it to a self-checkout register, where she scans a few low-priced items and pays for them before walking out with higher-priced items that she has not paid for.
The LPO said this has been a “systematic, ongoing occurrence” since November 2024, but surveillance video was not retained for the earlier incidents, so employees were going back through recent incidents to provide evidence.
On March 17, for example, an employee working at the self-checkout registers reported that a customer was acting suspiciously; an LPO immediately recognized the woman as a “repeat thief” but was unable to act before she left the store. Surveillance video showed the woman pushing the cart toward a nearby apartment complex.
However, the suspect used a credit or debit card each time to pay for a few low-priced items, and the LPO was able to check the name on the card, leading to the identification of Lopez. Comparison of store video with Lopez’s driver’s license photo confirmed her identity.
The LPO told the detective they had evidence for nine cases and possibly three more in the 30 days before March 18.
On May 5, the Target LPO saw Lopez in the store and followed her as she selected a shopping cart of merchandise; when she went to the self-checkout register, the LPO went to the loss prevention office and reportedly watched her scanning two small bottles of hand sanitizer before removing the other items (valued at $198.43) from the shopping cart and bagging them without scanning them. Lopez then allegedly paid for the hand sanitizer and walked out of the front doors, where she was stopped by the LPO. She was reportedly cooperative and went to the loss prevention office with the LPO.
Post Miranda, Lopez reportedly said she was having financial issues and was staying in an extended stay hotel with rent that takes most of her paycheck.
Lopez has been charged with two counts of petit theft and a felony charge of engaging in a scheme to defraud, but the detective noted that charges for at least eight more incidents are forthcoming. Lopez has one felony conviction for grand theft from 2017. Judge Susan Miller-Jones set bail at $45,000.
Articles about arrests are based on reports from law enforcement agencies. The charges listed are taken from the arrest report and/or court records and are only accusations. All suspects are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
Simple solution…get rid of self checkout!!
I concur!
@$&@&*%#eff self-checkout! I refuse to use it. I don’t work for Target. When is my damn coffee break?!! I want a raise!
While self checkout is nice for team members on breaks with limited time since busy times and lack of cashier coverage, for guests it does become a nuisance often. And people wonder why groceries are expensive…. Theft!
Production, import, labor, (depending on where), costs contribute more.
Just sayin’
Send her to Alcatraz.
She thinks Target is expensive now, just wait a couple months. Due to the pending tariffs and continued rants of colonization, there’s likely to be more people stealing due to financial burdens.
There simply won’t be enough room at Alcatraz.
Huh. I wager we will need more jail cells. Target is not expensive. It is tolerant. Tolerance leads to complacence, just a it does at the border. This woman was (is) a thief and committed a crime just like the illegal aliens.
Huh? Reread the comment. I never said Target was expensive, just figured she did since she implied she was stealing because she was experiencing financial difficulties.
Not all illegal aliens are thieves, but they did break the law by entering the country illegally. Unless you’re implying most are stealing jobs. If so what jobs, and from whom?
More factories are coming back. She can get a higher paying job then.
Um, factories ain’t coming back.
Definitely not in the timeframe some naive people think, or want.
The plan is to add on to Alcatraz & Gitmo.
Stop it the first time—do NOT let people have a free ride!
Thankfully this one is nearing the end of her breeding age.
What a fat loser.
What a scumbag. Doesn’t “they” know Target is woke and celebrates *diverse* people like her? Biting the hand that feeds it, indeed.
No they dont 🤣
One time is too many times. What the heck is this tolerance crap for theft? On the other hand recently most retailers are not permitted to physically stop you once you left the store with their merchandise. They can attempt to detain you by getting in your way, talking, etc. But cannot issue you the beat down they used to be able to do.
The LPO and self checkout people need to be terminated for allowingt it to go on. To me that is the real story. Standards at Target have gone so low – this was all preventable.
Incorrect. It is the LPO’s task to gather evidence for Law Enforcement. They have no legal authority as GPD and ACSO and State Troopers. Unfortunately for a court case, sometimes things like this happen. Termination will make things worse. And Self checkout is a worker there to assist guests and alert leaders of suspicious activities. Self checkout is just a task trained to assist the machine that is a service advocate that has no special training in LPO duties. Completely different job titles. Sco ppl are cashiers not LPO so termination of them is dumb.
I blame Target as much as I blame this woman. Any store that employs individuals who allow stealing until it “gets out of hand” is obviously a mess. Target’s values have long been out of whack.
And you probably think it’s a woman’s fault for getting raped because of her clothing . . . .
Security at Target = Keystone Cops.