A mother who fled after using her 10-year-old daughter to push a cart full of stolen groceries out of a Morgan Hill supermarket was sentenced today in Santa Clara County Superior Court to 60 days in jail.
Marcy Erico, also known as Marcy Kellin, was sentenced to the jail term plus three years of probation and must complete classes in theft prevention and parenting, according to Deputy District Attorney Steven Lowney.
Erico, 38, received the sentence as a result of her guilty plea Jan. 22 to one count of commercial burglary, a felony, and contributing to the delinquency of a minor, a misdemeanor, Lowney said.
With 12 days of jail time to her credit, Erico has been permitted to serve her remaining 48 days in a public work detail outside of jail supervised by the Santa Clara County Sheriff's Office, Lowney said.
On Sept. 19, Erico told her 10-year-old daughter to transport a shopping cart filled with $145 worth of unchecked groceries and beer from inside a Safeway store in Morgan Hill to the parking lot, Lowney said.
Once the attempted theft was discovered by store officials, Erico fled with her 11-month-old son and a male companion, leaving the girl behind at the store, Lowney said.
Erico left the area and became the subject of an alert for her safety of that of her infant son after an investigating officer said she made suicidal statements.
After an out-of-state felony warrant was issued for her arrest, she was tracked to a Super 8 motel in Fernley, Nev. and arrested there on Sept. 28 by Lyon County sheriff's deputies.
Erico had been seen on surveillance video allegedly stealing groceries from a Safeway store in early September, according to Morgan Hill police.
Lowney said that Erico, who bailed out of jail not long after she returned to Santa Clara County, could have received a sentence of up to three years in state prison on the felony charge.
The judge handled out the smaller sentence since Erico's criminal record was "very light" and the groceries in the cart taken from Safeway did not add up to much, Lowney said.
The felony charge was filed in light of her leaving her child in order to escape, Lowney said.
The daughter, who was placed into the care of her grandmother after her mother left her at the store, was not charged in the theft, Lowney said.
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