Shoplifting

Newport Beach police have a lesson for shoplifters: Don't try it. Or, at the very least, if you're given the chance to put something back, do it. Officers say David Ramirez, 18, of Yorba Linda learned that lesson the hard way Friday night when he allegedly tried to swipe a $9.99 bottle of Hiram Walker Peppermint Schnapps. An employee at Albertsons supermarket at 3100 W. Balboa Ave. discovered a man trying to conceal a bottle in his clothing. "The employee tells him, 'Put it back and leave.

Police have a lesson for shoplifters: Don't try it. Or, at the very least, if you're given the chance to put something back, do it. Officers said David Ramirez, 18, of Yorba Linda learned that lesson the hard way Friday night when he allegedly tried to swipe a $9.99 bottle of Hiram Walker Peppermint Schnapps. An employee at Albertsons supermarket on West Balboa Avenue saw a man was trying to conceal the bottle in his clothing. "The employee tells him, 'Put it back and leave.

Actress Shelley Morrison, who plays the maid Rosario Salazar on the television situation comedy "Will & Grace," has been arrested on suspicion of felony shoplifting, Los Angeles police said Friday. Morrison, 66, was booked under the name Rachel Dominguez and released after she posted $20,000 bail, Officer Don Cox said. The theft allegedly occurred Wednesday at Robinsons-May in the Westside Pavilion on Pico Boulevard at Overland Avenue, Cox said.

It was a fitting legal coda to celebrity litigation, Hollywood style. A court session Monday to review Winona Ryder's community service devolved into a debate over the wages of sin and what to do with the $5,500 worth of fancy loot that the star shoplifted from Saks Fifth Avenue. To wit: a $760 Marc Jacobs cashmere thermal top, $300 Gucci shoes, a $540 Natori handbag, a $225 Eric Javits hat, hairpieces and two Yves St. Laurent blouses, among other items.

The U.S. Supreme Court's decisions upholding life imprisonment for shoplifters make reform of California's three-strikes law through the Legislature or the initiative process imperative. Today, 344 people are serving life sentences in California's prisons for shoplifting a small amount of merchandise. More than 650 individuals are serving life sentences for possessing small quantities of drugs. Such sentences make no rational sense and are inhumane.

Police in the northern San Luis Obispo County town of Atascadero are investigating the death of a 40-year-old physician after he was detained by Kmart store security officials for allegedly shoplifting. Dr. Samuel R. Kaidi, who worked as an emergency room doctor at General Hospital in San Luis Obispo, died after surgery following the incident Sunday afternoon at the Kmart in Atascadero. Kaidi was a resident of Orange, police said.

The prices at Patty's Fashions in Van Nuys were a little hard to beat for this season's high-end goods: a $1,175 Hermes coat might go for $200, a $600 Ralph Lauren leather skirt for $60, a $1,500 Prada purse for a few hundred. Clothing from Abercrombie and Fitch, Banana Republic, Ann Taylor, Anne Klein, Polo and Victoria's Secret also was available, even though the store is in a working-class neighborhood in the 14800 block of Burbank Boulevard and had no sign outside.

Police allege that a woman who caused a fender-bender fled into a Kmart bathroom in Stuart, Fla., and tried to conceal her appearance with hair dye, makeup and a change of clothes stolen from the store. Officers said they found Melissa Anne Nunziato, 28, in the bathroom, along with empty boxes and price tags for the allegedly stolen items in the trash.

Cal State Fullerton center Pape Sow avoided jail time Thursday after he pleaded guilty to misdemeanor petty theft charges in an Orange County court. He could be back in uniform for the struggling Titans next week, Fullerton Athletic Director Brian Quinn said. Sow was arrested Dec. 17 as he left the university bookstore with a $17 knit cap he didn't pay for. It was his second arrest in 15 months.

Warning "if you steal again, you will go to jail," a Los Angeles County judge on Friday sentenced film star Winona Ryder to three years' probation, mental health counseling and 480 hours of community service for shoplifting designer merchandise from Saks Fifth Avenue in Beverly Hills. "You have disappointed many people inspired and entertained by your talents," Superior Court Judge Elden S. Fox told the two-time Oscar nominee, who nodded sheepishly as he spoke sternly.