In a story that is nothing short of bizarre, three Austin women were arrested in late August after being accused of using preschool-aged children to help them shoplift from the Barton Creek Mall. Reports state that the theft involved nine family members in all, as the three women apparently had six children assist them in attempting to steal over $1,300 in merchandise from a JC Penny.

According to KEYE Austin, several court documents contend that the group of nine were “seen by the store’s security trying to take merchandise without paying.” In what appeared to be an orchestrated attempt, “they had put clothes and shoes on and put other items in their purses and bags belonging to the store,” and, to make the incident even more condemning for the group, “it was all recorded on the store’s surveillance cameras, according to the affidavit.”

Police contend that the operation began when two of the women and five of the children “systematically collected the merchandise and then went into a women’s fitting area and stayed for several minutes.” After the group evidently stashed the various pieces of merchandise in various places, police state that “they then left the fitting rooms in groups of two and walked straight out of the store without paying.” However, before they managed to make their getaway, security was able to apprehend the women and children and collect the various stolen items.

Security also collected the cell phones of the two women in the group, and, as a result, the other members of the party—a woman and a young boy—were unable to track down their cohorts. According to reports, they “started getting rid of some of the items they had on them—but not all,” and the two “still had some merchandise on them when they tried to leave the store without paying.”

Despite the seemingly overwhelming amount of evidence pointing toward the guilt of the three women, the husband of one still maintains that the incident was nothing more than a complete misunderstanding:

“Everyone goes around and the kids take something and then go outside,” the man said, according to KEYE Austin. While that statement does not seem to diminish any guilt, he later added that he does not feel that his wife is guilty.

Guilty or not, we at Freedom Bail Bonds understand that it is not our place to judge the actions of anybody. Everyone makes mistakes in life, and no matter how perfect hindsight might be, we cannot change the things we did wrong after the fact. At Freedom Bail Bonds, though, one of our favorite aspects of our business is being there for people when they need us the most. Our judgment-free and professional bail bond agents genuinely care about our clients, and they are always around to help get their lives back on track as quickly as possible.