‘I have on a $3,000 purse. I don’t steal!’: Illinois woman’s Target arrest video takes off on social media as her luxury handbag defense draws ridicule

A woman arrested for allegedly shoplifting at an Illinois Target tried to convince police she couldn’t possibly be a thief because she was carrying an expensive designer purse. The body-camera footage from Oak Lawn has since drawn attention online, with her unusual defense becoming the most memorable part of the encounter.

According to Guessing Headlights, Oak Lawn police detained the woman inside the store after a Target loss-prevention employee accused her and a companion of concealing clothing in a bag taken from another customer and trying to leave without paying. The woman strongly disputed that account. In the footage, she pointed to her purse as evidence that she had no reason to steal.

“Do you see? I don’t steal,” she told officers. “I have on a $3,000 purse. I don’t steal. This is my favorite Target.” She also explained that her phone was dead and that she was looking for her cousin, who had the money to pay through Apple Pay. According to her account, she had spotted her cousin near a downstairs escalator and was trying to find her before paying for the clothes.

The case is more complex than it initially seemed

“I didn’t leave the door,” she insisted, saying she had turned around and complied when store employees called out to her. At first, one officer suggested the women might receive a warning or a citation. But the discussion took a different turn when officers explained that the location of the checkout area could matter under Illinois retail theft laws.

According to the officers, the final point of purchase was upstairs, meaning that moving unpaid merchandise past those registers could be considered theft even if the woman had not made it through the store’s front doors. Concealing merchandise and moving it past the final payment area can be evidence of intent to steal, although the circumstances still matter in determining whether a theft occurred. Simply being past the registers does not automatically establish guilt.

The woman’s argument that an expensive purse meant she had no reason to shoplift was also unlikely to settle the matter. People who steal from stores do not all come from the same financial background, and owning a luxury item does not rule out the possibility of theft.

Actress Winona Ryder’s 2001 arrest offers a well-known example. Ryder was caught attempting to leave a Saks Fifth Avenue store in Beverly Hills with about $5,500 worth of unpaid merchandise, despite having purchased more than $3,000 in clothing during the same trip. She was later convicted of grand theft and vandalism.

Her companion was allowed to leave

Back in Oak Lawn, the woman continued to insist she was not a “booster” and mentioned that she had just come from church. She also repeatedly asked to speak with a store manager and offered to pay for the clothing. Those requests did not stop the arrest from proceeding. Police ultimately took the woman into custody, while her companion was allowed to leave without charges.

As officers prepared to transport her to the station, the woman shifted her focus to how her expensive belongings would be handled during booking, concluding the exchange by stating her intention to retain legal counsel. Under the law, all individuals are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.