A Little Larceny? : Police Seize Parents, 2-Year-Old Girl in Alleged $8,000 Theft Try at Airport

Police arrested a couple--and their 23-month-old daughter--for allegedly attempting to rob a Brinks guard of $8,000 at a Los Angeles International Airport restaurant Tuesday.

The child was spotted by the restaurant’s cashier taking a money pouch from the guard’s handcart and waddling over to her father, Los Angeles Police Department spokesman Sergio Diaz said.

The guard, who was in the restaurant making a pickup, did not notice, but the sharp-eyed cashier told police that she saw the little girl “pick up the pouch, walk over to her daddy and then saw him put it under his coat,” Diaz said.

The cashier alerted the guard, but the baby’s mother immediately handed back the money pouch, apologizing profusely for her daughter’s indiscretion.

A commotion ensued, and the threesome made their getaway, only to be found a short time later by two undercover officers looking for pickpockets working the international terminal.

This time, the officers said, the three were eyeing an elderly man’s briefcase.

They were arrested and taken to the LAPD’s airport substation, where officers were just learning of the restaurant incident.

The parents identified themselves as George Arias, 36, and Joanna Arias, 22, of Puerto Rico. They were booked on suspicion of attempted robbery. The child was placed in the custody of juvenile authorities.

Investigators suspect that the identifications may be false and that the parents and child could be a pickpocket team, trained in South America and working U.S. airports.

The little girl is a suspect.

“The baby knew what she was doing, “ Sgt. Pat Turner said, “but we don’t know how we can prove they taught their baby how to steal.”