Martin County - Wednesday June 12, 2024: Martin County Sheriff (MCSO) detectives arrested three Fort Pierce women Tuesday night on charges of stealing thousands of dollars of merchandise from the Kohl's department store in Jensen Beach.
The woman have been identified as 27-year-old Whitney Minatee, (sporting a tattoo on her left arm that says 'Hard Times'), 31-year-old Shantaerra McKeliver and 30-year-old Teneiqua Jones.
According to a post on the MCSO Facebook page, the trio entered the Kohl's Tuesday night and loaded merchandise into Kohl's shopping bags. Then they placed those bags on the floor near the entrance and left the store. A short while later, MCSO Detectives say they returned and parked their vehicle outside the door where they had left the bags.
MCSO Criminal Investigation Detectives were already on the scene, conducting surveillance. They observed two of the suspects run inside, grab the bags, and bring them back to their waiting vehicle where the third suspect was at the wheel, ready to drive away.
They didn't get far. The surveillance team Detectives had set up outside. The MCSO Detectives placed their vehicle into "a state of no longer moving."
With their vehicle immobilized, and the suspects inside, the detectives then recovered the bags of stolen goods, including liquor from a local food store and other stolen goods from various other venues, besides Kohl's.
Jones, McKeliver, and Minatee were booked into the Martin County Jail and charged with shoplifting and grand theft. They are believed to be suspects in several other retail thefts in the state.
