Updated: Women Try to Duplicate Heist of Nearly 70 Cans of Baby Formula, Police Say

Updated April 25

Two of the women accused of stealing dozens of cans of baby formula from Greenfield's Walmart, have been charged with misdemeanor retail theft.

If convicted, Ebony Sims, 26, and Johnetta Webb, 23, both from Milwaukee, face a maximum of 9 months of imprisonment, $10,000 in fines, or both after being charged in Milwaukee County Circuit Court on April 19.

Both women, according to the criminal complaint, were arrested April 14, after store security saw the women load up two plastic totes with cans of baby formula, just as they had done two days earlier, police say.

During the second trip, however, the women ditched the carts before leaving. In statements made to police, both women say they removed the cans of baby formula from the totes in another part of the store before leaving without paying for empty totes two days earlier.

Employees, however, were not able to find any oddly placed baby formula.

Original story:

A pair of woman caught on surveillance video walking out of Walmart with 69 cans of baby formula last week were arrested two days later when police say they tried pull off the same heist at the same store.

According to Greenfield Police Department reports, three women went to Walmart, 10600 W. Layton Ave., at approximately 4:45 p.m. April 12. Two of the women had toddlers in the shopping carts. A third woman served as a lookout.

Police say video shows two women selecting large plastic totes and putting them in their carts. Later they are seen putting baby formula in the totes; one woman put 43 cans in her tote and another put 26 cans.

All three women walked out of the store together without paying for the merchandise, which totaled $1,125.

Two nights later, two of the woman from the initial incident along with a new third accomplice, tried the same heist again, police say.

One woman stayed in a vehicle in the parking lot with five young children. That woman told police she was at the store to buy shoes for her niece but had not gone inside with her two accomplices yet because she had to give one of the children a bottle.

Before being confronted by police, however, the woman in the vehicle alerted her two accomplices via text messages that police were in the parking lot and had stopped her.

The two women inside ditched their carts that contained $930 in formula and other merchandise, police say.

All three women, however, were arrested for retail theft. Other citations including bail jumping and obstructing. One of the women had three open court cases and was out on bail. Another woman had two open court cases and was also out on bail.

One of the women, once in custody, told police that she has in the past purchased baby formula with her Women, Infant and Children program book and then returns the unopened cans to the store for cash needed to support her two children and her addictions to cocaine and Percocet.

She told police she was not planning on stealing any merchandise on this night, and claimed that two nights later, she had filled up the tote with baby formula but dumped the formula in another part of the store before walking out with an empty tote.

The same women were believed to take part in a similar heist at Target in New Berlin earlier this spring.