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Teen claims theft part of class project
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A Michigan City woman was arrested for shoplifting Monday night, despite her claims the alleged theft was part of a college class experiment.
According to a Michigan City Police report, Chelsea Rasmussen, 19, and another 19-year-old Michigan City woman and a 20-year-old Dunlap, Ill., man were stopped in JC Penney at Marquette Mall, 450 St. John Rd.
Store manager Carol Piergalski said she was checking fitting rooms for clothes around 9:45 p.m. and saw Rasmussen and the other woman go inside a changing room she had just checked. Piergalski confronted the two women and reportedly found several items of store merchandise under their jackets.
Rasmussen told police she was trying to leave the store without paying for the merchandise to see if she would get caught. The theft was reportedly part of a class project she and the other woman were participating in at a college in Chicago, where both are students.
Rasmussen also told police she had stolen something from Carson Pirie Scott in Chicago and gotten away with the theft, only to return the stolen merchandise to the store.
Rasmussen was arrested for theft, a Class D felony. The other woman was not arrested, but theft charges are pending against her. The man with them was found not to have played a role in the theft and was released.
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A Michigan City woman was arrested for shoplifting Monday night, despite her claims the alleged theft was part of a college class experiment.
According to a Michigan City Police report, Chelsea Rasmussen, 19, and another 19-year-old Michigan City woman and a 20-year-old Dunlap, Ill., man were stopped in JC Penney at Marquette Mall, 450 St. John Rd.
Store manager Carol Piergalski said she was checking fitting rooms for clothes around 9:45 p.m. and saw Rasmussen and the other woman go inside a changing room she had just checked. Piergalski confronted the two women and reportedly found several items of store merchandise under their jackets.
Rasmussen told police she was trying to leave the store without paying for the merchandise to see if she would get caught. The theft was reportedly part of a class project she and the other woman were participating in at a college in Chicago, where both are students.
Rasmussen also told police she had stolen something from Carson Pirie Scott in Chicago and gotten away with the theft, only to return the stolen merchandise to the store.
Rasmussen was arrested for theft, a Class D felony. The other woman was not arrested, but theft charges are pending against her. The man with them was found not to have played a role in the theft and was released.