On Wednesday, April 26th, 2023, at 8:30 pm, the Turlock Police Department was dispatched to a reported robbery that had just occurred at Walmart Neighborhood Market, 2480 Geer Rd, Turlock.

When officers arrived on scene, they contacted employees who stated that they saw a woman leaving the business with a shopping cart full of unpaid merchandise, so one of them confronted her.

During the confrontation, a struggle ensued after the woman attempted to take the employee’s phone away because she took photos of her and her vehicle. This turned a misdemeanor shoplifting charge into a felony robbery charge. The woman’s associates, a man in his 50s and two school-aged children, attempted to conceal their vehicle’s license plate to prevent the employee from taking a picture of it. The struggle continued until an uninvolved bystander saw it, came over to assist, and was able to pull the woman off the employee.

The woman and her associates then fled the area southbound on Geer Rd in a gray Cadillac SUV with an Ohio license plate that possibly ends in 9276.

The woman was described to be a heavier-set Assyrian in her 40s with black hair.

The same woman was likely involved in a shoplifting incident that had occurred two days prior on Monday, April 24th, across the street at Save Mart. During that incident, beer was stolen and the suspect had fled in the same vehicle.

The investigation remains ongoing. Anyone with information that could assist in it is encouraged to call Officer Mark Alberti at 209-668-1200.