Homeless Woman Kidnapped 4-year-old Girl At Trader Joe's

[Satanica]

http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-trader-joes-kidnapping-20161209-story.html

[....]
The incident occurred Thursday at the Trader Joe’s at the Santa Rosa Market Place, according to a press release from the Santa Rosa Police Department.

Police allege that Tina Szczepanek, 41, of Lake County, walked into the store and grabbed a girl who was shopping with her mother.

“Szczepanek went into Trader Joe’s and grabbed the victim, who was putting one of the small shopping carts away by the main entry/exit doors,” police said. “The mother of the victim was at the checkout stands and watched as the victim was putting the small cart away.”
[....]
zczepanek said, “She is mine,” before walking out of the store. The mother followed her and demanded the girl back, police said. Szczepanek did eventually put the girl down and was later arrested.

 

[mybum62]

Wow terrifying for the mother and child as well as other patron's in the area. Crazy.

 

[lithiumgirl]

Ah ... Winter. I bet this lady is looking for three hots and a cot until spring.

 

[LarzlovesJahi]

Ah ... Winter. I bet this lady is looking for three hots and a cot until spring.

Wow. That sounds crazy, but I've met some homeless folk who go to crazy lengths to get those three hots and a cot.

But grabbing a child in order to do that is extra crazy.

 

[Prettypink513]

Maybe she wanted to bake a pie...

 

[Kmbrbrt]

I think they spelled her name wrong. Perhaps it is Schyzopanic. Freaky scarey for the mom and child!

 

[Jake88]

I think they spelled her name wrong. Perhaps it is Schyzopanic. Freaky scarey for the mom and child!

Funny as I was scrolling I saw that and immediately went to read it thinking it said schizophrenic and realized it was her name.

Seriously though, can you say mentally ill? "My life sucks! I'm homeless, probably starving struggling to feed myself without rent hanging over my head... oh that kids totes adorbs... MINE!"

ETA: Sorry I forgot to analyze all angles(Which I gotta... being such an outside the box thinker and all) and I overlooked one! Maybe she isn't crazy! Maybe she is an evil genius and this is what she was thinking: "Well shit, I'm fucked. Jose said he is gonna choke a ho if I don't come up with his 20 bucks by the end of the day and panhandling ain't going so well! But I bet people would give me more money if I had that Oliver Twist looking kid with me...."

 

[Sejanus]

I once was told you can find anything at Trader Joes.
but that is a bit much.

 

[thatsmallgrl]

June 23, 2017

A woman with a history of mental illness was sentenced Friday to five years of probation for kidnapping a 4-year-old Santa Rosa girl while she shopped with her mother last winter at a Trader Joe’s store.

Tina Szczepanek, 42, told Sonoma County Judge Dana Simonds she doesn’t even remember the Dec. 8 incident, in which witnesses said she scooped the girl up in her arms as the child returned a small shopping cart to the store entrance and carried her out to the parking lot off Santa Rosa Avenue.

Szczepanek only got about 30 feet before the girl’s terrified mother, who had been watching from the check-out line, ran out yelling and retrieved her child. But family members said Friday the life-altering psychological trauma they suffered warranted a stiffer penalty.

The victim’s mother, father and grandmother read lengthy statements pleading for prison time and conveying the degree to which family and friends, more than two dozen of them in attendance, had been negatively affected by the kidnapping.

But Simonds had made clear months earlier her intent to grant Szczepanek probation, barring any new, persuasive evidence or argument.

On Friday, she acknowledged the suffering of the victim and her family and outlined the need to base her ruling on facts and the rights of both sides.

Simonds said Szczepanek’s history, which included childhood trauma, learning disabilities, substance abuse and a diagnosis of bipolar disorder, made probation and a chance for long-term treatment a more appropriate sentence.

Simonds noted that only a day before the kidnapping, Szczepanek had been released from a three-day mental health confinement. She had suffered a bad reaction to medication given her during the stay and left with multiple prescriptions drugs she didn’t know how to manage.

http://www.pressdemocrat.com/news/7128829-181/woman-who-kidnapped-4-year-old-santa