OKLAHOMA CITY -- Two Oklahoma City women are accused of stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of merchandise from Quail Springs Mall.
Chris Pasley, 26, and Velita Downey, 43, were arrested on Aug. 19 in their Oklahoma City apartment.
Police found more than $3,000 worth of shoes and clothes. According to police, the suspects admitted that since March 2011, they have been shoplifting from Sears, JCPenney and Dillards at Quail Springs Mall. Several employees with those department stores named both women in several cases, according to police.
Representatives with the department stores estimate the pair stole at least $300,000 worth of items from their stores.
When police searched their apartment, they found several comforters with the security tags on them. Police asked Pasley how she was able to bring them out of the store, and she demonstrated how she used a lighter to melt the device off the plastic, police said.
Downey told police she had been shoplifting for 30 years and made a living by taking orders from people within her apartment complex. She would steal whatever they wanted and charge them a lower-than-retail price.
Both women are being held on grand larceny charges.
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