Shoplifter Caught on Tape, Police Use Raffle Ticket to Find Her
Elizabeth Null stole garden supplies, then entered a raffle at the same store.
Aug. 23, 2011— -- A shoplifter with a green thumb who allegedly stole garden supplies worth hundreds of dollars right under the nose of store employees, also tried her luck by filling out a raffle ticket at the store. Little did she know that ticket would provide a lucky break: for the cops.
Police said Elizabeth Geneveive Null, 20, was see on tape stealing from Anything Green Hydroponics in Penn Valley, Calif., on Friday. Before she left, she wrote her address and phone number on a raffle ticket for the store's upcoming party. That ticket, which would have made Null eligible for various expensive prizes, led cops right to her door a couple hours later.
Doug Jones, co-owner of the store, called police the same day as the thefts, as soon as he and his wife figured out what had happened. "They said, 'Do you know who she is?' and I said, 'Absolutely – I have her name, address and phone number right here!" he recalled.
Anything Green Hydroponics uses video surveillance, and even posts a large sign near the cash register notifying customers in red letters that they are being recorded on closed circuit television.
When Null came into the store on Friday, she spent nearly half an hour browsing items … and allegedly filling her handbag with them.
"She was really friendly and talkative – she was talking to us the whole time, kind of befriending us," Jones told ABCNews.com.
Jones knew Null's mother, who was a frequent customer, but he had never met her daughter, who said she had just moved to Nevada County from Las Vegas.
Null eventually left the store, saying she needed to call her mom. At that point she allegedly unloaded her loot, putting it in her car, and walked right back into the store.
She was on a roll, which may have been why she wanted to try her luck by filling out a raffle ticket at the store's checkout counter.
Surveillance video shows her filling out the ticket."A little on the not-bright side, absolutely," Jones told ABC News Sacramento affiliate KXTV.
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