Amish Woman (?) Wanted For Theft

I should put the (?) in bold in the headline. This person is described as wearing Amish woman’s clothing.

And that looks to be the case (see below). But is she actually Amish?

The “track record” of the Amish, who on the whole are not known to steal or rob, would suggest otherwise. But individuals are individuals.

And the clothing and overall appearance do look Amish, although we just have this one image, and it’s not top-quality.

Pictured: woman suspected of a theft in Middletown, PA

Note: I blurred the face here. I felt compelled to do so for a couple of reasons. One is that theft is so uncommon in Amish society, it is possible this person, assuming she is Amish, has some mental health issues. If you want to call that a double standard, that’s fine. But the unblurred image is publicly available in both the news report and the police site linked below.

Is this woman Amish?

The headline from the report at Daily Voice Middletown-Lower Swatara is “Woman In Traditional Amish Clothing Sought In Middletown Theft: Police”…also leaving some space in case this is not actually an Amish person.

At first glance, you might think it bizarre to dress up like an Amish person to do a crime. But on second thought, it might be a very clever cover. Who would suspect an adult Amish woman of stealing?

But if I were only going by the clothing in this one image, I would say everything I see here suggests “Amish”. Bonnet, dress color, even what I can make out of the shoes.

In other words, it doesn’t look like someone tried to piece together their own rendition of what they think Amish clothing looks like, like you sometimes see on social media, etc.

And the location is in Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, home to an Amish community over 1,800 people in size.

Odd echoes

We have seen police go undercover in Amish women’s clothing to stop a criminal. And in the early-to-mid 1990s, a pair of bank robbers dressed as Amish farmers for a series of New Jersey robberies, netting at least a quarter-million dollars.

Those are the two most similar or potentially similar stories I’ve seen to this one. Otherwise, an Amish person shoplifting is just not something you hear much about.

Undercover Police Amish Woman
Pulaski Township (PA) police sergeant Chad Adams in disguise as an Amish woman

That’s not to say the Amish are perfect. Individuals in Amish communities do and have committed crimes. It’s just as a whole, the Amish crime rate is quite low. This is one thing where the public assumption or stereotype about the Amish really fits.

A week later, the case is still open

Details at this point are scarce. The story was published on Monday, about a theft which happened a week ago, and I don’t see any updates since publication (case is listed as “Current”).

I’m also operating on the assumption that this police department is doing good work and has established that a crime has occurred and this is not a “misunderstanding”. From the Lower Swatara Township Police Department:

The Lower Swatara Township Police Department is seeking the public’s assistance in identifying a female suspect involved in a theft incident within the township.

If you have any information that could aid in identifying the individual pictured, please reach out to the Dauphin County Dispatch Non-Emergency line at 717-558-6900 or submit an anonymous tip through the Lower Swatara Township Police Crime Watch Page.

Location 1400 AIP DRIVE Middletown, PA 17057

That location is a Goodwill Outlet Center. As you can see in the surveillance footage screen shot, the incident occurred on January 15.

If this is in fact an Amish person, I suspect she will be identified and located soon (assuming she is Amish, I’m actually a bit surprised it hasn’t happened already).

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18 Comments

  1. Walter Boomsma

    Well done!

    Well done, Eric! You’ve given a very fair and objective report. It is “a person wearing Amish woman’s clothing” who might or might not be Amish. I also appreciate the discretion used in blurring the face. For one thing, it avoids the photo police on social media informing you that you should not post photos of the Amish. (I can see a certain amount of potential humor here.)

    1. Erik Wesner

      Thanks Walter, and that’s a point I didn’t think of. In any case, something seems off with this story, I’m just not sure in which direction.

  2. Vanessa

    People are who people are

    Whether the person is Amish or in an Amish outfit theft is still theft and people are still people and they’ll do what they do.

    You don’t have to have mental illness to be a thief and it is sometimes uncontrollable for some people.

    Kleptomaniacs can be in in any society, group, religion etc.
    Kleptomania is is in some ways a mental illness in the sense that it is a compulsive disorder, but they are aware of what they’re doing and they do it because they get a high from stealing.

  3. Mike Lucas

    Hands

    Her hands seem to be ones of an old woman, probably in her 80’s or 90’s. This could be a dementia problem.

    1. Stephen

      Good observation

      Good observation.

    2. Martha Cable

      That’s what I also thought, could be dementia. And, do they not have cameras outside to see if she got into a buggy or a van?

    3. Loretta

      Hands

      I noticed the hands right away, too. Just not sure what to make of it.

  4. Laura

    In looking at her closely, I am not seeing a covering or covering strings at all under her bonnet. The bonnet is far back on her head as well which makes me question whether she is used to wearing a bonnet or is using it as a disguise. On a recent trip to Lancaster county I was in a thrift store that had a large quantity of used plain clothing as well as new coverings. The prices were surprisingly low so if someone wanted to dress plainly it wouldn’t be hard to find such items. We tend to think that plain clothing is worn until it wears out but in the case of ladies wear that may no longer be true.

  5. Jerry

    My thoughts....

    This Goodwill store sells everything by the pound. The business model (non traditional and confusing) attracts Amish and Mennonite shoppers from as far as Maryland. (I do not recognize the clothing as anything from Dauphin County Amish. OOM from Lancaster County is possible. The Amish shoppers tend to buy housewares, books, some shoes, glassware and rarely clothing. They would never buy something with a bow on the handle. They hire a van driver and arrive in groups. They tend to stay several hours as the merchandise changes hourly. The merchandise is comprised of items that did not sell in their regular stores which by the way is donated. The best items from the donations are removed and sold in online auctions, so the merchandise has been rejected at least three times. Unless she found cannon balls, I would estimate the contents of the cart could be purchased for under $15.00.
    If she is Amish, perhaps another member of her group went through the register/scales and paid for the contents of the shopping cart and she is taking the goods out the door to the waiting van. The staff has high turnover, and an error could have happened.
    The patrons also include about 60 people who are there six days a week and actually make a living reselling. One never knows what you find and how many people overlooked it already. LOL

    1. Erik Wesner

      Very interesting Jerry. Thanks as always for your local insight. Sounds like this particular store is a Plain Community hit.

      I’ll just add – I didn’t take the image provided to be an image of the suspect necessarily in the act of stealing. I assumed that they used the image which best showed the suspect’s face.

      So I didn’t consider that the goods in the picture were what was stolen. Maybe it is the case that we’re also seeing the goods that were taken, but I didn’t see anything that indicated that to be the case.

      It sounds like this store is quite large if there are 60 people there all the time hunting for overlooked gems.

    2. Martha Cable

      That’s not a bow on a handle, that’s the ties of the trash bag the item is in.

  6. Deitshman

    The way of describing the issue of an Amish woman stealing deals again with stereotypes…
    1st: assuming the woman might have some mental issues…why not simply she is intentionally with a criminal mindedness, willingly stealing, simply because she likes to take the chance…why such thoughts with the background thought Amish surely don’t don’t do it, she must some issues… Why an Amish woman cannot simply be bad?
    2nd: the lines describing Amish as a group which is not known to do such things..well, are Hispanics known of that or other groups in general in American of any ethnic or religious background?….
    I just known of one worldwide group which is known in every country for grabbing partly into others’ pockets, begging around and earning its living to a high degree with it, which shows many disintegration problems and school avoidance, but it would be politically incorrect to quote its name. But any other group? For all ethnic groups who earn a living by themselves or have regular jobs it is not expectable. There are individuals everywhere who steal…from each group, but no group is exempted.
    For the Amish it means as for many closed up groups: If something is not known to the wide public it does not mean it didn’t happen. It might not happen among them. But using mind means one should expect thiefs stem from all groups.
    We know all the Amish keep things by themselves very much. But drawing again a picture of a better society like for the Amish does not help at all.
    3rd: Why should the name of the thief already be known to the police? Completely forgetting how Amish deal with abuse cases among themselves, when a confession hast been made to the Gmay? They even keep that by themselves and do not report it willingly to the courts who should decide, so why then expecting it for such, maybe classified as trifle things as shopping cart items’ stealings…they might have already dealt with it in their ranks…it would be interesting if the stolen items/bags were by any way brought back?
    4th: I doubt that because of the high retention of Amish youth becoming Amish members one can really expect all of these are really religious deep into their hearts. Their social systems very much drives them to stay within their ranks. So assuming that one simply should expect many people are hypocrites in regard of faith but inwardly as bad as the socalled outside society one easily likes to condemn in a spirit of arrogance.
    5th: It is funny to read that people assume the person might have just taken Amish clothes and is not Amish. Even when such cases happened, the reasoning behind it is still the thought: “She cannot be Amish, because Amish don’t do it …I cannot believe and do not want to believe it..Amish must be better, because we want it.” It is again the expectation of a more or less perfect society one wants to find…even plain people in general very fast mention it is not of that way…. It would even be easier to make the Impression of a “honest” person in public minds when getting a fine suit or even a preacher’s suit or a business dress than trying to obtain a black Bonnet from a plain clothing store for any stealing plans( such an Investment into “Camouflage clothing” surely would mean to plan several trips of stealing to get investment back.)
    6th: Because of the high uniformedness and endogamy rate many people resemble each other. I would expect for an outside it is more difficult to identify the woman than for Amish who look for other details….the Amish would even know if she is an Amish for simple reasons like how she has pinned her cap, or apron or other issues of clothing…for the outside it looks more or less alike.

    1. Erik Wesner

      The original post is certainly not arguing that she as an Amish person couldn’t do it. Individuals are individuals, as noted in the post. An Amish person can of course, “be bad”.

      For instance, there have been a handful of murderers among the Amish.

      Yet the rate of crimes like murder, assault, and theft are very low among the Amish.

      Thus I considered other possibilities as well – while leaning to the view that she *is Amish* in my analysis in the post, based on what I can make out of her appearance from this image.

      Comparing a 400,000-person religious group with distinct characteristics, to a group like Hispanics (as in your example) with 10s of millions of people across many different sociocultural groups and walks of life…is not exactly apples to apples.

      And this is all not to say that Amish people cannot commit crimes. They can, and certainly have, as we’ve covered here often enough in other posts.

      Abuse (sexual and physical), for example, may even occur at greater rates than “the norm” in certain Amish communities (emphasis on “certain communities”).

      I’m not sure how long you’ve read this site, but it feels like you are giving a lesson in “don’t idealize the Amish”. If so, yes, you’re preaching to the choir.

      As for the point on the suspect being kept quiet in the community – fair enough, it is possible. But if they have a clear image like this one, and an idea of the community where she’s from, they can certainly knock on some Amish doors and ask questions.

      And yes there is a chance they might encounter a community-wide “Amish Omerta”. But I rather doubt that every last Amish person they talk to is going to be comfortable boldly lying to the police when asked directly “do you know this person”.

  7. Christine O

    Possibly Amish look alike

    My question is what did she steal from the Good Will , English clothes ?? Or Fabric and kitchen stuff..That should help with identifying if she was truly Amish ..

    1. CK

      Bouvier916@yahoo.com

      Does anyone else think it’s kind of sad that anyone, let alone a very old person, would have to STEAL thrice-rejected Goodwill merchandise? Don’t forget they have already disposed of anything of value.

      She’s not exactly knocking off Brinks armored trucks, so would it be worth the effort and expense to buy a costume?

      God bless that person, regardless of her motive —whatever inspired her: poverty; dementia/confusion; impulse-control disorder or other. No ethnic or religious group is infallible or immune to mental disorders or the infirmity of age.

  8. J.O.B.

    Obviously more time is needed to gather more info.

    This person dressed in a way that appears Amish. Is that because she is Amish? Did this person know there are security cameras in the store, so they dressed this way to hide their true identity?

    Are they from out of town so they thought they’ll never be caught?

    Are they struggling financially? Have stolen in the past and often got away with it? Thus leading them to continue to steal?

    It’s interesting to hear a story about a possible Amish person stealing because the image many have of the Amish is one of a people who normally don’t do this sort of thing.

    Amish are regular people. So yes, I do know Amish who do, I’ll say, questionable things(morally, ethically, legally). So i’m not surprised to see a possible Amish person steal. At the same time, I am a little sad because of the possibility they might be struggling financially. In time we might get more info to help us understand what’s going on. Til then, we wait.

  9. Thank-you for blurring the face

    As other people have mentioned, dementia would strike me as the most likely explanation of this one, given the apparent age of the suspect and the probable undesirability of the items, regardless of whether she’s Amish or not (if she was ex-Amish and had lost part of her memory, she might put on Amish clothes, particularly if she still had them about, so I don’t think it would be conclusive regarding her identity or not as an Amish person). Of course, it definitely isn’t the only possibility. However, dementia is common and it would potentially account for the oddities!

    I really appreciate you blurring the face like that, regardless of who she turns out to be. I think that in general on the internet it would be of benefit to have a higher average reticence regarding posting things that could shame suspects, particularly on the type of website when old posts stay up* and the reader doesn’t necessarily see the updates on the case.

    *I am not saying this is a bad thing: I greatly enjoy the archives on this site and many others. But it does mean that you can potentially see that someone has been accused without also seeing that they have since been cleared.

  10. Kal

    Amish... or Old Order Mennonite???

    Correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t that an Old Order Mennonite bonnet? Like from a Stauffer (or “Piker”) church? They would have black covering strings/ ties on the Kapp as well. Just my two cents….