OGDEN -- A woman who ran a lucrative shoplifting operation that involved her children and her police officer boyfriend has been sent to prison.
Beverly McGill was sentenced Monday by 2nd District Judge Stanton Taylor to a one-to-15-year prison term.McGill's boyfriend and former Ogden community service officer Sesser Hood was sentenced in December to a year in jail for benefiting from the thefts committed by his live-in girlfriend.
Prosecutors contend the couple enjoyed a lifestyle well beyond their means from the sale of the stolen items over a four-year period.
Both Hood and McGill were also charged with third-degree felony witness tampering for allegedly threatening to kill a key witness in the case. Each had the charge dropped as part of their plea bargains.
Prosecutors said McGill took her children with her on the shoplifting sprees. They said the children were seen on store security video tapes exchanging high-fives as they helped load McGill's haul into the family car.
McGill often used a baby stroller to hide the stolen items, the total of which is estimated at more than $100,000 in value. She posted some of her five children in stores as decoys.
"The most difficult thing about this relates to the children," Taylor said. "I think you've done irreparable harm to your children.
"I don't think you have any idea at all how much you have affected them. You have taught them to disregard the law."
Defense attorney Jim Retallick tried to argue that only one of the children knew their mother was stealing.
"She asked her mother why she would steal," Retallick said. "Her mother said she didn't know and told her not to do it, that she had a problem."
He also said his client was ready to teach loss prevention classes for the 30 businesses identified as victims. McGill would leave the tags on stolen merchandise and sell it at garage sales at a recognizable discount.
Retallick said she could explain to her victims exactly how she did it, how she managed to steal so many thousands of dollars worth of items.
"Different stores were targeted because they were easy," Retallick said. "And teaching the classes will frame this face in their minds. They'll know when they see her again that she's a master shoplifter and has to be watched."