Criminal Minds!

On the 4th of July my mom and dad flew into town. Shortly after they got here my mom and I and a few of the kids took a trip to Walmart. Talan needed a new pair of flip flops and so after picking out a really cool pair he wore them through the store. We took all the tags off of them so that we could show them to the cashier to pay for them. When we got out to the car after checking out I saw the tags still sitting in the cart. I asked my mom, "Did you pay for these?" She answered, "No! Did you?" Oh crap we just stole a pair of flip flops! We quickly came up with a plan to right our wrong. My mom was going to run back into Walmart to pay for the flip flops and I was going to get the kids in the car and then drive to the front of the store by the door to wait for her.

As I waited in the car I did what anyone would do and I people watched. And then I saw this one guy come walking out of the store that caught my attention. He was wearing a hunter green sweatshirt. A sweatshirt? Really? Who wears a sweatshirt in the middle of summer? Then I noticed that he had something tucked under his sweatshirt. And that's when I said out loud to the kids in the car, "That dude is totally shop lifting!" I kept my eye on him as he walked through the parking lot. I wanted to see what car he got into. But he didn't get into a car. He just kept walking all the way through the lot! Right about then my mom finally came out of the store. She got in and I told her that I had just watched a dude walk out with his sweatshirt stuffed with stuff he was stealing! I flipped my car around and took off through the parking lot to get a closer look at him. By this time he was in front of the strip mall across from Walmart. I asked my mom to take a look at this guy and tell me if she thinks he's got junk under his sweatshirt. We slowly drove by him and took a good look. She was like, "he TOTALLY has stuff shoved under his sweatshirt!"

Oh my gosh! So what do we do now? Too bad there isn't a cop around! Then I looked out onto State Street and low and behold their was a Sheriff! But how was I going to get his attention. I pulled out onto State Street but in the opposite direction as the Sheriff then immediately whipped back into the strip mall. I decided that I needed to see where this BAD GUY was walking to. As I got back to where I began I realized that the Sheriff had pulled into the parking lot too but the bad guy wasn't there anymore. I couldn't see the bad guy anywhere! I rolled down my window and motioned for the Sheriff to come over to me. He rolled down his window and I told him that I just witnessed a man stealing stuff from Walmart. He told me that that's who he was looking for. Just then I saw a vehicle start up and begin to pull away. I told the sheriff that I had a feeling he was in that car. I told the sheriff that I was going to follow him. I quickly took off to follow the car. The Sheriff flipped around and followed behind me. I told my mom to get out something to write with to take down his license plate number just in case this is the guy. He pulled out onto State Street and I followed close behind. I looked back in my mirror and the Sheriff didn't follow us. WHAT? Dude!... Sheriff! Come get this guy! Okay whatever... I still have to know if this is the guy or not. He jumped on the freeway and I followed him. I sped up and moved over a few lanes so that I could get a good look. As we pulled up next to him we got a good look and it was him! My mom rolled down her window and gave him an I KNOW WHAT YOU DID YOU NAUGHTY MAN YOU kind of stare! You know the stare only a mother knows how to give! I was sorta freaking out hoping this bad guy didn't have a gun that he was wanting to use. Wanting to use on a mother giving him the mother stare! Fortunately for us... He didn't!

So now what? I saw this guy stealing, I followed him, I alerted the Sheriff, I got his plate number, I pursued him,... NOW WHAT? The dang Sheriff didn't bother to follow me! So I got off the freeway and let the thief go. My mom and I talked about it for a minute and decided to go back to try to find that dang Sheriff! And what do you know... I FOUND HIM! He was filling his tank at the gas station. I pulled up along side of him and when he looked over he immediately knew who I was. I told him that I followed him and it was for sure him! He told me that he didn't follow me because he was entering the plate number into his computer to see if the description of the driver of that vehicle matched up with the description of the bad guy...and it did. He had me come to his Sheriff car and take a look at the picture of the guy on his computer. Sure enough, that was our guy!

He then asked me to go back to Walmart to meet with the American Fork police officer who was there. I did and she had me fill out a witness report. She thanked me profusely for my service and then I headed home. I few minutes later I received a call on my cell phone from the same officer. She asked if it was okay for her to share my cell phone number with the Walmart people. She said that they were so impressed and grateful for my help in catching this criminal that they wanted to give me a gift card. Later I got a call from the store manager and he told me that this one particular bad guy had been stealing from his store along with other stores for quite some time and that this was the closest they had ever come to catching him. If I hadn't followed him they wouldn't have gotten his plate number and with his plate number he is as good as caught! He told me that he wanted to give me a $25.00 gift card to thank me. WELL ISN'T THAT NICE!!! The next day I got a call from the loss and prevention department wanting to thank me too! Man I was a real Walmart HERO! Anyways a few days later I went to Walmart to get my gift card and the manager once again thanked me and told me that if I ever wanted a job in their loss and prevention department he would hire me! Too funny huh?

So there you have it. I now have one more awesome thing to add to my resume. I'm a thief catcher! I have natural police like reflexes and I didn't even know it! I mean I've always known that I was really good at watching people. Heck I've even been known for staring at people from time to time. And I've always been pretty observant... especially about what people are wearing! Well not so much in my older years, well okay, maybe! And chasing someone down in my car! YES! That's my specialty! I know how to put the pedal to the medal if you know what I mean!

SO WATCH OUT BAD BOYS!
Bad boys bad boys, whatcha gonna do?
Whatcha gonna do when STEPH comes for you?