WESTFIELD – A woman caught shoplifting ended up being arrested as a fugitive from justice.
Police were called to Walmart, located at 141 Springfield Road, around 1:15 p.m. Friday afternoon for an incident of shoplifting.
Loss Prevention observed a woman steal items from the store and get into a vehicle with a Massachusetts license plate where another woman was sitting.
The first woman gave the items to the second woman who then entered the store to return the items at the customer service desk.
Loss prevention “lost eyes” on the second suspect, but saw that the first suspect was driving around the parking lot and appeared to be “waiting for her partner in crime to emerge from the store,” according to police logs.
Police learned that there was an “active extraditable warrant” out of Enfield, Connecticut, for Kristina L. Foley, one of the suspects.
Foley, 32, of West Springfield was arrested as a fugitive from justice without warrant, according to police logs.
An arrest without warrant is described in Chapter 276, Section 20B of the Massachusetts General Law: “arrest of a person may be lawfully made also by any officer authorized to serve warrants in criminal cases, without a warrant, upon reasonable information that the accused stands charged in another state with a crime punishable by death or by imprisonment for a term exceeding one year,” according to malegislature.gov.
A fugitive is “someone who flees (the state) in an attempt to evade the consequences of a crime,” according to mass.gov.
Information regarding why Foley is wanted in Connecticut was not available, but a search revealed Foley was also arrested on March 14, 2014 by Holyoke Police for shoplifting at the Holyoke Target store and charged with larceny over $250, according to Holyoke Police logs.
Foley was arraigned in Westfield District Court on Monday and is being held without right to bail pending a March 25 hearing.
Staff Writer Christine Charnosky can be reached at [email protected]
