Woman Used Infant To Commit Robberies
In the wild and crazy but true department, the Sarchí de Valverde Vega, Alajuela, police uncovered a scheme where a mother using her one year old baby to steal from local merchants, along with three men who were accomplices. All four are now in the hands of the police.

The woman, identified only by her last name, Chacón Castro, is only 18 years old, would used her baby as a distraction while her accomplices would make good with merchandise from local shops. According to police, the unusual team stole thousands of dollars of merchandise from various local retailers.

Police said that the group would enter a retailer like any other customer. The woman, with baby in arms, along with one of the men, would engage the sole clerk in conversation in a distaction tactic while the other two men would stock up.

Once the accomplices had left the store with the stolen merchandise, the woman would then politely excuse herself from the conversation and leave the store. In some cases, the crying baby was just enough to cause a distraction.

Police became wise to the team when several merchants reporting the theft all mentioned the baby that was not more than 12 months old.

Taking down the group was no easy task, according to police, when their latest attempt was at a Sarchí store on Tuesday, like in their previous robberies. This time police were alerted and gave chase to the gang who was fleeing in a Hyindai that was later discovered to have altered license plates.

Police detained the gang about 5 kilometres from the scene of their last robbery with some ¢100.000 colones (us4200) in stolen merchandise. Police say that the chase reached high speeds, not caring for the safety of the baby.

Police say that all the members of the gang where from Gravillas de Desamparados (San José) and the baby was doing fine and in the custody of the Patronato Nacional de la Infancia (PANI), the child welfare agency, while the mother is spending time behind bars.