ST. LOUIS – Skintight athleisure pants failed to conceal the Ikea frying pan that has a suspected shoplifter in hot water.
Cellphone video taken around 7:00 p.m. December 30 outside a St. Louis Ikea store shows 28-year-old Sierra Coleman being restrained by two loss prevention officers, according to KTVI-TV.
Despite the large pan sticking out of the backside of her leggings, Coleman was not going to be taken in without a struggle.
“It’s a misdemeanor,” Coleman yells in the video. “Only 30 dollars!”
The woman filming can be heard exclaiming, “Is that a pot in the back of your pants?”
Not only is the outline of the cookware item clearly visible through the suspect’s Nike pants, the entire handle can also be seen sticking out of her waistband.
Warning: Video contains graphic language:
Coleman argues with the two Ikea employees as they restrain her. The woman recording the video tells Coleman to calm down, saying, “You don’t want to make it worse … especially, you know, you got these people’s stuff in your pants.”
One of the Ikea security specialists can be heard saying that it’s too late, claiming Coleman “scratched me and bit someone else.”
Coleman eventually removes the pan from her pants and it clangs on the ground. After the lengthy struggle, Coleman goes back to the store with the two Ikea employees, presumably to wait for police.
Coleman now faces two misdemeanors for theft and one charge of assault, according to the Circuit Attorney of the City of St. Louis.
St. Louis police say in a charging document that employees saw Coleman put bed sheets in a bag and then walk out of the store without paying. When an Ikea security officer attempted to stop her, she bit his arm, according to the document.
It is unclear how the pan ended up in her pants.
Video of the unusual shoplifting bust went viral after a woman named Dani Rosemary downloaded the video and posted it to her account after the original video was deleted. Rosemary doesn’t know who initially shot the video, according to KTVI.
The clip was then picked up by pages like MediaTakeOut and has been seen by millions of Facebook fans.
