A woman allegedly left two children in a hot car while using a checkout trick to steal more than $80 worth of items from a Walmart.
Katherine Leone Gordon, 65, is accused of using a ‘banana trick’ to pay less for groceries at a store in Sebastian, Florida.
Loss prevention officers saw Gordon walking to the self-checkout and scanning items with the wrong barcodes and walking away to try to avoid paying full price, according to an arrest affidavit obtained by CBS12.
She allegedly placed lower priced barcodes over the original ones, and tried to get away with $83.67 in merchandise from the discount retail chain.
Cops arrested Gordon outside of the Walmart and refused to speak with officers. But one of the Loss Prevention Association officials mentioned that children were inside her car and cops went and found two kids inside of it with the windows rolled up.
Officers opening the vehicle felt a ‘rush of heat’ coming from inside and there was heavy moisture inside the windows due to carbon monoxide build-up and the lack of air flow, police said.
Both children were sweating profusely, according to the affidavit.
The local temperature on Thursday was around 85 degrees Fahrenheit between 5pm and 6pm.
Asked about her kids, Gordon allegedly said she ‘did not think it was a problem leaving the juveniles in the vehicle as long as it was not running, further adding that the juvenile’s parents do it all the time’, stated the affidavit.
More Trending
When an officer told Gordon that the children appeared to be too weak to open the vehicle doors themselves, Gordon allegedly said, ‘They were fine.’
Her relationship to the children and their ages and identities were not immediately known.
Gordon has been charged with two counts of child neglect and a count of second-degree petit theft. She is being held on a $3,000 bond at Indian River County Jail.
Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.
For more stories like this, check our news page.
MORE: Everything we know about the mystery of toddler Émile Soleil’s death
MORE: Major update in case of Émile Soleil, 2, who was found dead in the French Alps
MORE: Murdered teenager’s chilling letter that foresaw his own death
