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Blanco & Barrientes-Womack

 

Mount Pleasant police say a couple caught stealing $633 worth of pricey meat and alcohol from Pick’n Save are facing felony retail theft charges.

Lucio Blanco, 58, and Ashley Barrientes-Womack, 22, both of Kenosha, were charged Monday in Racine County Circuit Court with one count each of felony retail theft. If convicted, Blanco faces up to three years, six months in jail and/or up to $10,000 in fines.

Barrientes-Womack is also facing misdemeanor charges of possession of drug paraphernalia and bail jumping. If convicted of all charges, she faces up to four years, one month in jail and/or up to $30,500 in fines.

According to the criminal complaint, Mount Pleasant police were called to Pick’n Save, 2820 S. Green Bay Road, Saturday for a shoplifting report. When officers arrived, store employees said they observed Blanco and Barrientes-Womack in the liquor department putting various bottles in their cart before going into the produce department.

Police say store employees watched Blanco and Barrientes-Womack exit the store with the cart without paying. When Blanco was confronted outside and asked for a receipt for the items in the cart, he said his friend had it, and they were still in the store. While employees were talking to Blanco, Barrientes-Womack was observed getting into a Chevrolet Astro van. Blanco left the cart and also got into the car.

All told, the defendants tried to get away with “t-bone steaks, loin back racks, sprite, coke, whiskey, brandy, cases of Bud Light, vodka, and other miscellaneous items” totaling $633.67, the complaint reads.

Officers were able to track the couple down because employees recorded the license plate number of the van. When they caught up to the couple, Barrientes-Womack had a small metal disc and a shoestring tied a certain way, both of which are commonly used to cook heroin so it can be injected, the complaint reads.

When Barrientes-Womack was questioned about her heroin use, police say she said she wasn’t an addict, but she liked using it every day.

Both Blanco and Barrientes-Womack remain in the Racine County Jail. Blanco was assigned a $500 cash bond, and Barrientes-Womack was given a $1,000 cash bond. Both will have their preliminary hearings on Feb. 19.