Spring woman sues over ‘taco seasoning bandit’ accusation
Life was on course for Alaina Alejandra Villa until, she says, Target misidentified her as the taco seasoning bandit.
The 31-year-old Spring mother of two could volunteer when she wanted at her children’s school, she’d lined up a new banking job at a credit union and planned an elaborate party for her upcoming nuptials.
But it all unraveled when police tagged her, based on surveillance videos, as the culprit of a crafty shoplifting spree over three days at Target stores in Atascocita and Spring, according to a $1 million federal lawsuit Villa filed Tuesday.
The “taco seasoning bandit,” as she’s called in court documents, was reportedly caught on video in July 2018 at the selfcheckout aisle, palming a 99cent Knorr spice packet and scanning its bar code repeatedly as she faux-scanned an air purifier ($152.99), a duvet ($89.99), two window valances ($49.98), a dinnerware set ($59.99), a Rocket vacuum ($189.99) and other household items.
The Harris County district attorney charged Villa with misdemeanor theft, saying she matched the image of the woman on the surveillance video in the store and parking lot who walked off with $591 of merchandise in back-to-back visits at the Atascocita and Spring Target stores last summer.
On the first visit, the culprit scanned 19 items for $35.27. On the second trip, the suspect scanned 19 household items using another brand’s seasoning packet that retailed for a mere 49 cents. Her total was $20.88.
Images of a third visit by a similar-looking patron on the following day at a Spring Target showed a similarly fishy checkout routine.
Villa says after being wrongfully identified by authorities, she turned herself in on the theft charge. After multiple postponements, the prosecutor dismissed the charges, checking a
box on the form that said, “probable cause exists but case cannot be proven beyond a reasonable doubt at this time.”
Villa says Target officials picked out the wrong car, her hair color was never purple like the bandit’s and she does not possess any of the stolen items.
The head of security at the Atascocita Target watched the video and matched it to the culprit in one of the store’s lots taking off in a white Toyota Corolla with a specific license plate number and rims. But Villa watched the same video and saw a different white Toyota Corolla with different plate, rims and a decal on the back window, which she believes could be the actual bandit.
She says the arrest prevented her from taking the job at the credit union, volunteering at her children’s school and accessing the funds she planned to use for the wedding.
Villa, who has maintained her innocence and refused multiple plea offers, is seeking monetary damages and accusing the chief security staffer and the Target company of defamation, malicious prosecution, wrongful imprisonment and negligence.
The local attorney for Target did not respond to requests for comment, however, Danielle Schumann, a national spokesperson for Target, said, “We’re aware of the suit and we are looking into it.”
Villa’s lawyer, Keith Grady, said his client is currently involved in discussions with Target about the facts of the case.
“Neither party wishes to prejudice those discussions at this time,” he said.
Self-checkout lanes have created new challenges in stores, says David Levenberg,
“It happens every day at every retailer that uses self-checkout technolog y.”
David Levenberg, retail security expert
an expert in retail security who has been retained as an expert in dozens of loss prevention cases around the country and logged 15 years in theft prevention, including five years at Target.
Price switching, or using a lower-priced bar code to get away with a higherpriced item, is extremely common across the industry.
“It happens every day at every retailer that uses selfcheckout technology and different retailers have different technologies to alert them to this,” he said.