Authorities said Diane Badenhausen of Summit was charged on Saturday with two counts of shoplifting and released later that day.
So I had a whole bunch of people ask me to post the video on line of the woman who stole the Vera Bradley bag. So here it is. If you know who she is, please report her to the police in Manasquan. Thanks!
Posted by White Bliss on Sunday, September 6, 2015
MANASQUAN -- A week after her alleged shoplifting spree at a Manasquan boutique was splashed over the Internet, a Summit woman was arrested for stealing from another high-end borough store, authorities said Wednesday.
Diane Badenhausen, 53, was arrested Saturday after leaving the Palm Place store on Main Street with merchandise she had stolen earlier in the day from the store, said Manasquan police Capt. Michael Bauer.
Badenhausen, Bauer said, is the woman captured on surveillance video seen stealing a $108 Vera Bradley backpack from White Bliss Boutique on Broad Street on Sept. 3.
After White Bliss owner Anne Sauri decided to post the video segment on the store's Facebook page, the Manasquan Chamber of Commerce sent an email alert to members with the link. The video made its rounds and within days, Manasquan detectives had identified the suspect but hadn't yet charged her, Sauri has said.
Palm Place owner Ted Smith said he showed the video to employees more as an example of how some shoplifters operate and less as a warning for them to be on the lookout for this particular woman.
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That's why, he said, he was surprised to learn the same woman was in his Manasquan store on Saturday. In the 35 years he's been a shop owner, Smith said, he's never seen an online video spread locally and help apprehend a shoplifting suspect.
"That's the first time I saw something like that," said Smith, who also owns Palm Place stores in Bay Head and Princeton. "I wasn't anticipating we'd have that woman in here shoplifting."
He said one of his newer employees noticed some items missing just after a woman who had been browsing left the store on Saturday.
The employee told another woman in the store that she suspected the recently departed customer had just lifted a pair of glasses, he said.
Smith said the woman the employee alerted is Donna Reynolds, the owner of Chantilly Too, another boutique on Main Street, who happened to be shopping in Palm Place.
Reynolds said she recognized the woman from the video and followed her around the store. After the customer left, Reynolds told the employee she noticed some of the items the woman had been admiring were gone. Reynolds followed the customer and got the license plate of her Hyundai to provide to police.
Later that day, Smith said, the shoplifter was arrested at an address in Sea Girt. Property records show listings for Badenhausen in Summit and Sea Girt.
Smith said police brought a number of pieces of merchandise to his shop for him to identify. They included the $265 Carrie Dunham clutch purse and the $98 Lilly Pulitzer wristlet purse that had been stolen from his store that day, he said. So far they haven't recovered the pair of reading glasses taken from the store, he said.
"She obviously had a very busy day in town," Smith said.
Bauer said Badenhausen was charged with two counts of shoplifting and released later that day. He said the investigation is continuing.
"The key to all this is you have to share information to catch these people," Reynolds said. "Shoplifting hurts all stores, but to these little businesses, it really is hurtful."
MaryAnn Spoto may be reached at mspoto@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @MaryAnnSpoto. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
