Video shows adults using children to shoplift jewellery

N.H. store video shows adults using young children to shoplift jewellery

at 14:50 on August 9, 2006, EST.

BEDFORD, N.H. (AP) - A store surveillance video captured footage of two small children sneaking behind display cases to steal thousands of dollars in jewellery, apparently on instructions from their mother and grandmother.

Bedford police made the video public this week and said Wednesday that they believe they are close to making arrests. They started getting tips minutes after the video first aired on local television.

"We're fairly certain . . . they are a family working together," Det. Matt Fleming said. "Can you believe a grandmother, mother and children?"

The video, taken Aug. 2 at a store called the Consignment Gallery, shows one woman, possibly the children's mother, directing them to pocket certain items. An older woman, believed to be the children's grandmother, stuffs items down her shirt.

Police said the children are under 10, but the video suggests they could be significantly younger.

"It's pretty upsetting to watch," Fleming said. "Watching the children methodically move through that jewellery area and take the items out for the mother is just astonishing."

Fleming said more than $2,250 Cdn in jewellery was stolen.