Woman with 12 Aliases Caught at Best Buy, Police Say

Police caught two East Stroudsburg women carrying security deactivation devices inside the Bethlehem Township Best Buy on Thursday afternoon, according to court records, but they’re not sure of the identity of one of them.

That’s because the woman—at age 19—has almost a dozen aliases and at least seven different dates of birth attached to a criminal history that filled almost seven pages in a file, court records show.

Also, police had to chase the woman and her alleged accomplice around the store before taking them into custody, the records say. One was taken into custody inside the store and the other was found a few blocks from the store.

The alleged accomplice also has a criminal history that includes arrests for cocaine possession and prostitution in Miami Beach and larceny in the Charlotte, N.C., area, the records say.

Police later found security deactivation devices inside Bed, Bath and Beyond bags as well as freezer bags they were carrying. The devices were “a foiled line insert used to defeat the electronic security in stores,” the records say.

Bed, Bath and Beyond and Best Buy are in same shopping center—Southmont—at Route 33 and Freemansburg Avenue.

Meanwhile, police were assisted by Best Buy staff, who had received a heads-up, and photos, from the chain’s Stroudsburg area store about two women suspected of stealing items there.

A criminal complaint identifies the woman with the aliases as Crystal Johnson, with a date of birth of July 5, 1993.

Some of her alleged aliases include Fatima Anderson, Dequanna Holden, Shaquanna Ackinson and Fatima Atkinson. Her other dates of birth include the years 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986 and another date in 1993.

Johnson’s extensive criminal history includes cases from New York City for such charges as larceny and receiving stolen property. Her file says she also is wanted by the Bergen County, N.J., sheriff’s department.

The other woman’s identity is Denisha Pauline Robbins. Her birthday is listed as July 5—the same as Johnson’s—except she was born 10 years earlier, in 1983, making her 29, the records say.

The criminal complaint, filed by township Patrolman Michael Jordan, includes the following details:

—When police were dispatched around 5:15 Thursday afternoon, they were told the women were suspected of stealing items from another Best Buy. A Bethlehem Township store employee told arriving police the women, later identified as Johnson and Robbins, were in his store, based on photos he had of the women suspected in the previous thefts.

—The women were in the automotive electronics department, accompanied Jordan to a rear office, and were told they were suspected of stealing items at another Best Buy. Both became “irritated,” claiming they stole nothing and were simply walking around.

—They were carrying bags from Bed, Bath and Beyond, claiming they were going to be returning items to that store.

—The Best Buy employee then showed Jordan a photo of the two women from the other store. The photo was of Johnson and Robbins.

—Robbins then “bolted out the door of the office.” Jordan went after her. She ran to an exit door that did not open. She then turned and fled to the front of the store and out the front doors.

—Johnson, meanwhile, had run out of the office behind Jordan, who turned to go after Robbins and ran into Johnson. He tried to restrain her “but she kept pulling away, attempting to get out of the rear exit door.”

—Jordan eventually “pinned” Johnson against a hallway sofa and despite her struggling was able to handcuff her. Another Colonial Regional officer by this time had arrived. While waiting for him to bring a car around back, Jordan writes, “Johnson again slipped from my grasp and ran out the back door but was stopped as she attempted to exit the building.”

Johnson and Robbins were charged with possessing instruments of crime. Johnson also was charged with resisting arrest.

They were arraigned Thursday night by on-duty District Judge Robert Hawke of Lehigh Township and committed to Northampton County Prison— Johnson on $8,000 bail and Robbins on $5,000 bail.