Cottage Grove police brief: Charges possible after shoplifting incident at Kohl's

At least two people faced possible felony theft charges after an alleged shoplifting operation was interrupted at the Cottage Grove Kohl’s store.

Police arrested two people and said charges are possible on another pair following the recent incident.

The store’s loss prevention staff called police Aug. 17 to report a shoplifting incident. According to police, two female suspects were in the store, one filling a cart with merchandise. Two male suspects were outside, and then one man brought the cart with more than $800 worth of unpaid merchandise from the store to a vehicle in the parking lot. The men then allegedly tried to flee, but two police officers stopped the vehicle.

Police said some of the four suspects had been in the Cottage Grove store five days earlier returning merchandise without receipts, and they did the same thing again two days before the arrests.

Police arrested Jay A. Wylie, 57, of St. Paul, and Bryant Evenson, 25, of Apple Valley, on suspicion of felony theft.

Charges were possible against the two women, a 50-year-old from St. Paul and a 30-year-old from Burnsville.

–Scott Wente

Tags: crime and courts, updates, crime