Crime & Safety
Reethel German Pleads Guilty in Deptford Mall Shoplifting Incident
German admitted to pepper-spraying a store loss prevention officer as she tried to flee with more than $600 in merchandise last year.
A Bridgeton woman who pepper-sprayed a store security officer as she attempted to shoplift more than $600 worth of clothing from a Deptford Mall store last August pleaded guilty to theft Tuesday, and now faces a year in state prison.
Reethel German, 23, was charged by Deptford police with stealing $648 worth of clothes from Abercrombie & Fitch on Aug. 18, 2011. She allegedly came prepared, bringing a pair of wire cutters to remove security tags, and hid the clothing in her handbag before getting into a scuffle with the store’s loss prevention officer.
German had several previous shoplifting arrests, mostly in Vineland and Millville, according to previously-published media reports. She was nicked in an alleged $5,000 shoplifting spree in Vineland and Hamilton Township in 2010, according to The News of Cumberland County, and was arrested again in 2011 for allegedly shoplifting from Kohl’s in Millville, according to a Vineland Daily Journal report.
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As part of the plea agreement, Assistant Gloucester County Prosecutor Temperance Williamson will recommend a 365-day state prison sentence. Superior Court Judge M. Christine Allen-Jackson scheduled sentencing for Sept. 21.
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