Black women claim racial bias when charged in Rock Hill fake check, shoplifting scam

A pair of Charlotte woman claimed they were targets of racial bias at the Rock Hill Target store when police arrested one for allegedly passing fake checks and the other for shoplifting hundreds of dollars worth of gift cards.

However, police had video and photo surveillance of both, and seized evidence of the alleged crimes, so both remain jailed.

In the incident Wednesday night, Target employees identified Kenyetta Gilmore, 34, and Tiffany McCray, 34, both of Charlotte, as a tandem who used fake checks the day before Thanksgiving and tried again Wednesday night, according to a Rock Hill police report.

Officers asked both to go into an office for questioning, then both “pretended like they didn’t know what was going on, stating that they were being falsely accused because they were black and shopping in Target.”

Store employees showed police photos and video of Gilmore in the store on Nov. 25 and also showed police the phony checks from Nov. 25, the report states. Gilmore denied the woman in the video was her, the report states.

Police also were advised that Target had banned Gilmore because of an alleged similar incident in North Carolina.

Gilmore is being held on $12,000 bond on charges of forgery and shoplifting.

Officers also were shown a picture of McCray when she allegedly shoplifted in a North Carolina store. When officers asked McCray if she had anything belonging to Target in her purse, she “began to yell and argue that she didn’t do anything.”

When officers found $424 in Target gift cards concealed in her purse, McCray told officers she was going to pay for them. She was charged with shoplifting and driving without a license because surveillance video showed her driving but neither suspect had a license, the report states.

McCray is jailed on a $8,000 bond.

This story was originally published December 10, 2015 at 1:44 PM with the headline "Black women claim racial bias when charged in Rock Hill fake check, shoplifting scam."