An Overland Park woman has been charged with stealing more than $100,000 worth of merchandise from various places around the metro.
Kelli Jo Bauer was arrested Wednesday and charged with theft on Friday morning. She was being held on a $50,000 bond, but it was lowered to a $20,000 bond.
Bauer made bond Friday afternoon. She will be under house arrest with a GPS monitor.
What happened?
Members of the OPPD's Organized Retail Crime unit said they'd spotted a woman shoplifting on Wednesday, and they followed her to a home on the 13700 block of Horton Drive. After obtaining a search warrant, detectives found the stolen merchandise and arrested the woman, who is currently being held at the Johnson County Jail pending charges.
Multiple bags of purportedly stolen merchandise were removed from a home in an upscale neighborhood in Overland Park on Thursday. As of late Thursday morning, police had filled more than nine vans with merchandise from the home in The Links at Lionsgate neighborhood.
The woman had been under investigation for an extended period of time, police said.
Who is the woman?
Bauer has previously been charged and placed on probation for similar theft and shoplifting from various stores, and was ordered to seek therapy and take medication as part of her probation.
Bauer has done business online via various Facebook swap shops, as well as on the online store MyRetroBaby.
A viewer posted an ad on our Facebook page that Bauer had posted last month.
Bauer said in the post she had more than 1,000 pieces of clothing from stores like Banana Republic, J. Crew and Victoria's Secret. She told customers to bring cash only and no large purses.
Anybody who has done business with her and has a concern about their purchases is asked to call the Johnson County District Attorney's Consumer Hotline at 913-715-3003.
How much was stolen?
Police have not placed an exact amount on the stolen goods recovered, and they said the sorting process of all the items could take weeks.
"This house is very large and it contains a lot of evidence that they're trying to go through to see if it's any stolen product or product that doesn't belong to the owners," said OPPD Detective Richard Breshears.
As of Thursday, police said they'd seized clothing, household goods and "anything you would buy generally at a retail establishment," said Breshears. "We don't see these cases every single day, and in a neighborhood such as this."
What happens next?
Bauer is expected to make her first court appearance at 1:30 p.m. on Friday, according to the Johnson County District Attorney's office.
