A 23-year-old Florida woman, Elizabeth Novac, is currently in custody after allegedly involving a minor in a shoplifting incident at a Target store last weekend. Novac is facing charges of grand theft, with the stolen goods valued between $750 and $5,000, and contributing to the delinquency of a minor, according to records from the Lee County Sheriff’s Office.
The unusual nature of the alleged crime, which involved a child, led to Novac’s arrest several days after the incident. On October 12, law enforcement officers were called to a Target store located on NE Pine Island Road in Cape Coral, a large city on Florida’s western coast known for its extensive network of navigable waterways.
The store reported a theft estimated at $1,111 that had occurred the previous day, as per a press release from the Cape Coral Police Department. Target employees informed the responding officers that the suspect was an unidentified woman who had entered the store with a child under the age of 10.
Security footage provided by the store showed the woman filling a cart with merchandise, handing the cart to the child, and then directing the child to exit the store with the cart full of unpaid items. Among the stolen goods were a barista machine and a vacuum cleaner.
Following the incident, an investigation was launched and the woman’s picture was circulated among law enforcement agencies. On Thursday, in response to a complaint about a woman panhandling, an officer identified the panhandler as the suspect from the Target theft.
Novac was subsequently identified and arrested. The investigation revealed that Novac had filled the cart with merchandise and then intentionally directed the child to leave the store without paying. She exited the store a few minutes after the child.
The relationship between Novac and the child, if any, has not been disclosed by the police. Novac is currently being held in the Lee County Jail on a combined bond of $15,000. As of now, a formal case against Novac has not been listed on the Lee County court system’s public docket.