Staples Accuses Pregnant Woman Of Hiding Items Under Her Shirt

Woman Seeks Legal Action After Staples Treats Her Like A Thief

A pregnant Black woman left a Staples in North Carolina baffled after she was accused of stealing. According to reports, the store’s manager assumed Sherell Bates was hiding items under her shirt and therefore, asked a police officer to question her. In reality, Bates is expecting twins.

Bates told TV station WSOC, “Initially, I thought he was joking, so my response was, ‘Twins. I’m 34 weeks with twins. I’m having a boy and a girl.”

When the officer wasn’t satisfied with her response, she pulled out her best receipts: “At that point, to avoid him asking me again, I actually lifted my shirt just a little bit, just to expose my belly, so he could see that I’m just a regular pregnant person buying school supplies.”

While Staples has apologized, Bates is seeking legal action, telling the TV station that the store “jumped the gun” without any evidence, except the fact that her “stomach is large.” “That’s not fair” she said, “No mom should have to go through that.”

Apparently, the store manager explained that “a lot of people” had been stealing items and hiding them in their clothes.

Staples’ apology reads as follows: “Saturday at our Pineville location while a customer was shopping, a manager mistakenly thought they were possibly shoplifting and asked a police officer that happened to be in the store to talk with the customer. After a quick conversation, the issue was resolved, the manager apologized to the customer and refunded their transaction due to the inconvenience,” the statement read. “At Staples, we want all customers to feel welcome in our store, and work with our store associates to try and foster an inclusive culture. As an organization, we would like to apologize to the customer if that was not the case in this instance.”

That’s nice and all but to top it all off, Bates was at the cash register paying when the police officer approached her. Thoughts?