I'm in Minneapolis/St Paul Minnesota and today my

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I realize employment is at-will in Minnesota.   My question surrounded the shoplifting. They never had any contact with the stall owner. Someone came up on a golf cart and stopped them and at that point they asked them to dump out their bags when the police arrived. No one had kept them in sight from the time they left the cell, we have not heard directly from any person who stated that either of the girls put these shirts in the bags, etc. The police told us there were three witnesses, but did not tell us who they are and at the time they dumped out their bags the one officer said to the other, "What are we looking for?" To which the other one replied, "I don't know. It was booth 58, we better go back and find out what we are looking for." Now I'm no detective, but this seems totally backwards. How can police search for something when they don't even know what they are looking for.

Apparently at some point they found the shirts in the dumster in back of Kristin's employer's dry cleaners. The bottom line is that we are upset about this. I know neither one of these girls took these shirts. Anyone of a couple of thousand people could have stashed the shirts in the dumpster as it was right along the street where the booths were located.

These girls are 16, they are great students at a local private school, they do not steal and neither one has a history of anythng like this at all. The one police officer kept reiterating to my granddaughter that, "Your grandmother does NOT NEED TO COME OVER HERE!" I spoke with the officer on the phone for just a minute, didn't get too much information and she was off the phone; she did not want to talk to a parent/guardian.

Does state statute take precendence over any ordinances St Paul might have on shoplifting? I am particularly interested in the fact that in the statute it states the alleged shoplifter is to be kept in sight until the police arrive.    Thank you. Nancy

I know how upsetting this is, and will try to assist you, but who was the person the golf cart? Was he employed in any capacity by this venue?

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The golf card person may or may not have been employed by the Festival itself, it is unclear at this point. When my husband and I went to do some investigating yesterday, Sunday, I was told by the Highland Fest person at their tent, that security is provided by the St. Paul Police Department and a private security firm (name I don't know). The Highland Park Fest website is www.highlandfest.com.

When the girls left the tie die stand they walked to Kristin's work (the dry cleaners) to get Kristin's paycheck. Halie stood outside talking to one of Kristin's co-workers and Kristin went inside to get her check. The counter guy took her in back to show her where the checks were (she is a new employee) and he showed her that they had left a note asking for her SS and some other information. Kristin took the paper, and walked back to the front door with her coworker and went outside to meet Halie. It wss at that point that the guy (with a woman and a couple of small children) showed up in the golf cart and asked the girls to wait right there; they questioned him why and he said "the police are on their way." They were confused and thought it was some kind of a joke. The police then came and it was at that point that they asked the girlst to dump out their hand bags. They did so and then the one police officer said to the other, "What are we looking for?" The other one said, "I don't know. The booth is 58, we need to go back and find out."   

Now as I read the state statute regarding shoplifting, there are a couple of fishy things with this incident:
      1) We know nothing about what the witnesses said, who they were and if they kept contact with the girls to make a good identification;
      2) The man in the golf cart, we don't know who he is, nor whether he kept them in sight upon leaving the stand or if he was just radioed that "two girls stole something."
      3) The police officers searched their bags (two 16 year old girls) and they had absolutely no idea what they were looking for.

Now, I've never worked in criminal law, only civil litigation and some appellate work, but this does not seem kosher to me. Any further direction you can give me would be appreciated.

The girls were not given anything at all, no ticket, no incident report, no names/badge numbers, etc., or what precinct they worked out of. I believe the two officers were off duty working private security, but the golf cart guy I don't know anything about him at all.

The one thing I am positive of is that my granddaughter did not take anything at all. As for Kristin I am reasonably sure she did not. Her family is quite well off, her mom is a doctor and she is pretty much able to buy what she wants/needs (within reason). Halie has her own job and has her own credit card with at least $300 in the bank to use at her discretion. I realize sometimes people shoplift for other reasons even if they have the money, fortunately these girls do not fit that category.

I'm composing a letter to Internal Affairs Dept in St. Paul and the girls did a timeline of what they did and where they went and what happened in sequence. Any further direction would be appreciated.   Nancy