INQUISITR.COM / News & Politics

Police: Florida Woman Left Kids In Car For Black Friday Shoplifting Spree

By Chelsea Hoffman
Published on: 13:34 PST, Nov 29, 2016

A Florida woman has been arrested after police in Jacksonville say she left three kids alone in her vehicle. WHIO News reports that 28-year-old Jenni Marie Ennis has been charged in association with a Black Friday incident. Of course, the very reason why she allegedly left her kids in the car has a lot to do with the popular national shopping day.

Police say that they were called to a Kohl’s Department Store on allegations that a woman was shoplifting. Employees of the store allege that the 28-year-old woman pushed her cart of goods out of the building, without paying, into the parking lot. When they arrived, they confronted the Florida woman, but she tried to evade contact with them.

Authorities with the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office say that they approached Jenni Marie Ennis, but she told them she need to “contact someone inside her car.” This led police to discovering that her three children were alone in the vehicle, while she had been inside the Kohl’s loading a shopping cart with merchandise. Police do say, however, that the air conditioning had been running in the vehicle at the time.

When police arrested the woman, they noted that there were items inside the vehicle that had been stolen, but they are not aware of the owners of the items. Those items included a 32-inch television. The cart that the Florida woman reportedly took from the store contained merchandise totaling approximately $632.70 in value. The items included Bluetooth speakers and Fitbit watches.

Black Friday notoriously involves bizarre crimes and behavior. The Black Friday Death Count website reports that there have been nine reported deaths and 103 injuries in association with this year’s shopping festivities. One death took place in Reno, Nevada, when a shopper reportedly opened fire at a Walmart parking lot. One person was reportedly killed in the violent incident.

Also this year, an officer in Leeds, U.K., was stabbed in the neck while confronting a shoplifter. So, these crazy crimes don’t just take place on Black Friday in the United States!

This is also far from the first time someone has been arrested for leaving their children in a vehicle, unattended, even though numerous news reports have drawn attention to the heartbreaking dangers that can arise from such situations.

Earlier this year, a Vermont woman was arrested after she reportedly left her children alone in a car. Similar to this latest case out of Florida, 34-year-old Shanna Jacobs is accused of leaving her children alone so she could shoplift inside a South Burlington store. WCAX News reports that the woman never notified police about the fact that her children were in her car, allowing them to arrest her and transport her all the way to the jail. In fact, it was a concerned caller who notified authorities about the abandoned children. The Vermont woman has been charged with child cruelty.

As for this latest case, police say that Jenni Marie Ennis has been charged with child neglect, retail theft, and petit theft. This is also not the first time she’s had problems with the law. Police say that the Florida woman has been arrested at least a dozen times since 2009, on a laundry list of charges that include theft, drug possession, and driving on a suspended license.

[Featured Image by Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office]

Share this article: Police: Florida Woman Left Kids In Car For Black Friday Shoplifting Spree
parenting true crime Black Friday
More from Inquisitr