Mother accused of encouraging daughter to shoplift at Las Cruces CVS store
Las Cruces police say a woman is accused of encouraging a 13-year-old girl to shoplift from a local CVS store.
Michelle Jasso, 40, of the 4100 block of Gila Trail, is charged with one count of Contributing to the Delinquency of a Minor, a fourth-degree felony.
ABC-7 asked a Las Cruces Police spokesman to confirm if the girl was Jasso’s daughter. The spokesman confirmed to ABC-7 Jasso is the child’s mother.
Las Cruces police were dispatched to the CVS store at 3011 north Main Street on Tuesday, Jusy 31, 2018. When officers arrived, Jasso and the teenager were being held by employees.
A criminal complaint obtained by ABC-7 states a store employee alerted his manager about Jasso, allegedly involved in a theft the previous night.
The employee told the manager he kept an eye on Jasso’s daughter in the cosmetic section, while Jasso was in the pharmacy. The teenager was allegedly in possession of Biore strips when she walked to the pharmacy section to join her mother. The employee observed the mother and daughter walk straight for the CVS exit without walking to the front cash register section to pay for the Biore strips.
As they exited the store, the daughter allegedly handed over a black purse to her mother. An employee confronted Jasso outside the store and escorted the mother and daughter back inside the store.
Inside the store, the employees allegedly found the Biore strips, Biore cleaning cream, Face Mask gel and face oil inside the black purse, a criminal complaint states. The court document states Jasso allegedly admitted to stealing the Biore strips found inside her purse. However, the woman allegedly told police she did not know how the cream, face mask gel and oil made it inside her black purse.
When police interviewed the daughter, the girl allegedly said she told her mother she needed the Biore strips before they entered the store. The teen said, that on their way out of the store, Jasso allegedly told her “I’m not paying for these … stick them in my purse,” the complaint states. The daughter said her mother nodded her head, motioning to place the strips inside her purse, according to the document. The teen allegedly told police that as they got closer to the exit, her mother allegedly told her, “No. I’ll do it,” then proceeded to place the strips inside her purse.
Store employees determined the total value of the stolen products was $32.78, police said.
The teenager was given a Juvenile Class III citation for shoplifting. Police said Jasso was arrested and booked into the Dona Ana County Detention Center. Police said she has since been released.
