Baby Formula Heist Leads to 2 Arrests
Two Lynwood residents were arrested Saturday after allegedly shoplifting $600 worth of baby formula from a grocery store then pulling a gun on employees in the parking lot and fleeing, police said.
La Palma police officers arrested Oscar Bell, 42, and Laura Barnette, 33, after stopping the couple on the Artesia Freeway near Bellflower, said Fullerton Sgt. Bonnie Wolf.
Smith’s Food & Drug Center employees followed Bell and Barnette to the store parking lot at 914 W. Orangethorpe Ave. about 2:15 p.m. after the pair wheeled a shopping cart loaded with baby formula out the door without paying, Wolf said. Bell then pulled a gun on the employees and jumped into a car driven by Barnette, Wolf said.
La Palma police spotted the couple soon afterward and arrested them without incident, Wolf said. Bell and Barnette were booked into Fullerton Jail on suspicion of armed robbery, police said.
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