Investigators watched the unusual transaction in the parking lot of a Goodwill store in Woodburn.
Frances J. Davenport pulled into the lot in a white Kia about 5 p.m. A Salem woman, Claudia Kaestner, waited in her white Pontiac Grand Am.
Kaestner got out of her car and handed Davenport an empty white laundry basket.
Davenport filled the laundry basket with dozens of containers she had stashed in the back seat of her car, police say. She returned the loaded basket to Kaestner in exchange for cash.
The Feb. 2 transfer, along with dozens of others documented through surveillance and photos taken by retail investigators, have led to the indictment of both women on theft charges.
The take: basket loads of
and
powdered baby formula, police say.
Frances Davenport
Davenport and an accomplice stole about $11,537 worth of infant formula from Safeway stores in Oregon's Multnomah, Clackamas, Washington and Marion counties and in Washington state on nearly 100 occasions between last November and March, investigators allege. The two also are accused of hitting 50 Albertsons stores from Portland to Salem between November and mid-February, stealing about $5,886 in infant formula.
Much of the formula ended up in the Salem home of Kaestner, who is accused of selling it on the Internet site eBay to customers across the country at a marked down price.
"I make a little money and they make a little money," Kaestner told an undercover investigator when he bought dozens of stolen formula containers from her at her Salem home, according to police reports.
Powdered baby formula provides a lucrative income stream for shoplifters because of its reliable consumer base.
Jake Thompson
"With
, infant formula is a basic need item. At $15 to $32 per can, babies go through several cans each month," said Rick Whidden, director of
s Northwest Division.
"This makes it a popular target for petty criminals, desperate parents looking for a 'deal' and fuels a black market demand that provides an endless source of quick cash for organized retail crime gangs."
But the crime presents dangers because the containers' expiration dates are sometimes altered, risking contamination, health professionals warn.
In late March, Beaverton police raided the homes of the suspects. They arrested Davenport, 35, and her boyfriend, Jake G. Thompson, 40, at the Woodburn home they shared.
A Washington County grand jury indicted Davenport, a convicted felon who has been arrested 20 times in Oregon, and Thompson on two counts of organized retail theft, six counts of first-degree theft and three counts of second-degree theft. Davenport has pleaded not guilty to the charges. Thompson, taken into custody on an outstanding theft charge in
, has yet to appear in court on the new indictment.
These stolen baby formula containers were placed outside the Salem home of Claudia Kaestner's residence awaiting sale to an undercover retail investigator, authorities said.
Police confiscated a journal that contained retailer addresses in the home and a printout of Vancouver's Safeway stores found under Davenport's bed, according to court records.
Some days, Davenport and Thompson were busier than on others, investigators allege. On Feb. 28, for example, the couple are accused of swiping more than $100 worth of baby formula from each of four Safeway stores in
: Cedar Mill, Tanasbourne, Beaverton and Murrayhill, police records show.
At Kaestner's home, police confiscated about 80 containers of formula and a detailed ledger of her sales of infant formula across the country. A Marion County grand jury last week indicted Kaestner, 31, on a first-degree theft charge. She was arraigned last Friday.
Davenport would remove the infant formula from store shelves, while her boyfriend shielded her from customers and store employees, according to a search warrant affidavit.
She would place the containers on the seat in the shopping cart and then cover them with her purse and a reusable bag, the affidavit says. The two would push the cart to another part of the store, find an unoccupied aisle and Davenport would shove the containers into her bag as Thompson would try to shield her from surveillance cameras, according to the affidavit.
In less than five minutes, Davenport would coolly walk out of the store with the purse and bag slung over her shoulder, making off with the formula, investigators say.
Retail investigators caught Davenport and Thompson on store surveillance cameras repeatedly over five to six months.
On one Safeway video image, as Davenport walked out of a store with that day's stash of formula, she signaled a "thumbs up."
-- Maxine Bernstein