Townsend woman arrested for shoplifting over $651 in eyewear and merchandise minutes after being banned from Leominster mall

LEOMINSTER — On Wednesday, November 20, 2024, at approximately 7:00 p.m., Officers Nicholas Rice and Brandon Carlson of the Leominster Police Department were dispatched to The Mall at Whitney Field following a report that a woman by the name of Kassandra Franklin, who had been trespassed from JCPenney and the entire mall, had returned 14 minutes later, and was now at Lens Crafters.

(The account and quotations in this article were sourced from the printed Personnel Narrative of Officer Rice and do not reflect any political perspective or personal opinion of News Link Live, which is strictly a business entity.)

According to police, Kassandra M. Franklin, 36, is a resident of 140 Lunenburg Road, Townsend, MA.

“Upon arrival, I spoke to the security guard,” Officer Rice said. “He told me that it was the same female, Kassandra, from earlier, and she was causing a scene at Lens Crafters (inside the mall).”

The officers searched the mall and located Franklin inside JoAnn’s Fabrics, where she was placed under arrest for trespassing.

“Officer Carlson placed her in handcuffs (checked for tightness and double locked),” Officer Rice said. “In this process, I located a pair of sunglasses on her. They were tucked into her sweatshirt sleeve. She stated that they were hers, however, the tag was still on them. Kassandra took the glasses with intent to deprive Lens Crafters of their merchandise passing all points of sale without paying.”

Officer Rice stated that, along with the stolen glasses from Lens Crafters, Kassandra Franklin was carrying a bag containing stolen merchandise from JoAnn’s Fabrics at the time of her arrest.

“I walked her back to the cruiser and searched her prior to entering,” Officer Rice said. “During the search, I could physically see another pair of glasses tucked into the front of her yoga pants. I left them in there because I knew we would be able to obtain them at booking. On the ride back to the station, Kassandra smacked her head off the plexiglass twice. I yelled at her to stop. I pulled into the sally port and got Kassandra out of the back of the cruiser. She was leaning all the way forward and was trying to conceal two more pairs of glasses that were stolen from LensCrafters.”

Officer Rice got Franklin out of the cruiser and walked her over to Officer Jason LaBell and Officer Laurinda Dion who were called to the station to assist with booking.

“During the booking process, more pairs of glasses were located in her bag,” Officer Rice said. “Also found during the booking process was a small glassine bag filled with a brown powdery substance that based on my training and experience is consistent with heroin.”

Officer Rice reported that Officer Carlson supplied him with mock receipts from JoAnn’s Fabrics and LensCrafters. The merchandise stolen from JoAnn’s Fabrics totaled $173.50, while items taken from LensCrafters amounted to $651, in addition to three pairs of sunglasses without price tags. Since LensCrafters was closed when Franklin was booked, Officer Rice was unable to determine the value of the sunglasses lacking price tags.

Franklin was charged with the following:

1. Shoplifting by Asportation 3^rd Offense
2. Shoplifting by Concealing Merchandise 3^rd Offense
3. Trespassing
4. Possession of a Class A Substance (Subsequent Offense)

Franklin was arraigned in Leominster District Court on Nov. 11, 2024.

Disclaimer: If you are wondering why the incident in this story was from November, that’s because I had to file FOIA request(s) to get the court documents for the incident. FOIAs are time consuming.

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