Cops: WTNH Traffic Reporter Says She Shoplifted For Story

Courant.com ^ | 6-24-2010 | Staff

[raybbr]

MILFORD —

A traffic reporter for WTNH-TV in New Haven said she was a "freelance news reporter, and she was doing something on the side" when she walked out of Sears without paying for $105 in merchandise, police said.

Desiree Fontaine, 33, was charged with sixth-degree larceny Saturday.

Police said Fontaine took a $40 bottle of cologne, two gold earrings worth $3.99 each and $15 necklace from the jewelry department and went into a fitting room.

Fontaine left the fitting room without the merchandise, and when store security checked the fitting room, they found the price tags for the jewelry, the police report states.

Then Fontaine went to the men's department, selected a Hawaiian shirt worth $42 and returned to the fitting room, the report states. She exited the fitting room, but the shirt was not visible, the report states.

Store security checked the fitting room again and found the price tag for the shirt, the report states.

[raybbr]

For the "job"...

[kingu]

And then the reporter was accosted by police, and faced these charges, and now the story is evolving from ‘how easy it is to shoplift’ to ‘how they’re throwing the book at minority women..’

[paddles]

She'll be a jello wrestler by the end of the summer.

....not that there's anything wrong with that.

[Pete]

$3.99 ear rings? Classy.

[equalitybeforethelaw]

She wouldn’t be suffering from AAES (Afirmative Action Entitlement Syndrome) now would she?

[UCANSEE2]

Good thing she wasn’t doing a story on ‘murder’.

[UCANSEE2]

Because ‘shoplifting’ is a new and serious crime that most of the public is unaware of.

[Fundamentally Fair]

I was just doing research, Your Honor.

[UCANSEE2]

“Police said Fontaine took a $40 bottle of cologne, two gold earrings worth $3.99 each and $15 necklace from the jewelry department and went into a fitting room.”

Since when does one need a private fitting room to try on cologne and jewelry?

Since when does the fitting room attendant even allow one to take a ‘consumable’ like cologne into the fitting room?

The places I have gone, they only let you take in clothes.

[Travis T. OJustice]

$3.99 ear rings? Classy.

She gets her nails done at Walmart.

No, she has zero class.

[Blueflag]

AS soon as I read the Desiree ... I knew.

The pic confirmed it: AAES.

[Blueflag]

LOL!

I’ve never noticed a fitting room at Bass Pro Shop. (where I get most of my favorite clothes)

All I need to see is “XL-Tall” and I’m good.

And the cargo shorts ALWAYS fit.

[Professional]

She needed some new ear rings, that would catch people’s attention, stop staring at her big chompers.

[oh8eleven]

Found this on another site:

"According to Desiree he's [husband] the only man she knows who is patient enough and brave enough to deal with her quirky ways!"

Ah ha, the "quirky ways" defense.

[MaxMax]

Is that the perv who had child porn for research?

[Constitution Day]

Ah ha, the "quirky ways" defense.

She currently resides in West Haven with her husband Joey, who is always by her side cheering and rooting her on!

I wonder if he is still cheering her on?

GO DESIREE! Shoplift some more! GO GO GO!

[wberry8870]

LOL...That is hilarious!!!!

[KarlInOhio]

If you really are doing a story like that, maybe you should contact the police and perhaps the store's district manager beforehand so that if you are caught they'll not press charges.

The follow up story on being arrested, fingerprinted and stuck in a cell with the city's more interesting people should win her a Pulitzer.

[Thrownatbirth]

$3.99 ear rings? Classy.

Do you know many earings a gal loses in prop wash?

[Fundamentally Fair]

Yep...