Couple Accused of Shoplifting Strip Searched

Stripped of Dignity

Deadra Pattum picked up a pair of $3.00 earrings in Y Beauty Supply in Houston, Texas. Deciding not to purchase them, she placed them back on the counter. Surveillance footage confirmed that Pattum put the earrings back on the counter, but by the time that the security guard watched the video, Pattum and her fiancé John Marsden, were already violated. The store’s owner allegedly said “You people always steal.”

Intimidated and nervous, Marsden removed his socks, shoes and pants.

The security guard said “She never left the counter with those earrings in her hand.  There was no evidence of shoplifting.”

Pattum and Marsden are now pushing to have the store’s owners charged with unlawful search. “Everybody doesn’t shoplift. Everybody is not a thief. There are still honest people in the world” stated Pattum.

Quanell X, an activist fighting racial profiling, gave a statement saying, “This was a classic case of racial profiling in its most humiliating form. And something needs to be done about this.”

The owners of the store have declined to comment on the racial profiling charges, only saying that shoplifting costs their store a lot of money.

What’s the wholesale price for earrings that retail for $3.00?