2 women arrested in store-theft spree

OREM — Two women were arrested after police say they went on a "back-to-school" theft spree involving more than $1,400 of merchandise from two stores in University Mall.

Police received a report Tuesday evening of an auto burglary, and they quickly located a stolen white and silver Lexus as it entered the freeway and pulled it over, according to a police affidavit filed in 4th District Court.

Inside, officers found a man who allegedly admitted to two auto burglaries, as well as having marijuana in a drug free zone.

The 22-year-old female driver admitted that she and a 20-year-old female passenger had stolen more than 80 new items of clothing filling the car, police said.

The clothes were worth roughly $1,456 and were from The Gap and The Children's Place stores in the mall, according to the affidavit.

Inside the driver's purse, police found pliers, a screwdriver and wire cutters, and officers later learned that several theft-detection devices from both stores had been damaged, according to the affidavit.

Both women were booked into the Utah County Jail for investigation of retail theft, possession of stolen property and damage of a theft-detection device.

The driver was booked on possession of burglary tools, and a passenger was booked for possession of drug paraphernalia.

— Sara Israelsen-Hartley