A San Leandro Kohl’s store was accused of racial profiling over an incident in which a woman was stopped by loss prevention and accused of stealing. Cheryl Hurd reports.
A Kohl's store in San Leandro has been accused of racial profiling after a woman said two employees wrongly accused her of stealing.
Yolonda Montoya was shopping at the Bayfair Mall Kohl's where she said she tried on several clothing items and purchased a shirt before two loss prevention workers stopped her. She walked back into the store voluntarily where she said she was led to an office and accused of stealing in front of a police officer.
Montoya, who said she realized it would be her word against the two employees', recorded the incident and posted it to social media where she said it has since gone viral with 50,000 likes.
“I spend a lot of money here," Montoya can be heard saying in the video. "Because I look like a broke mother with a backpack you guys target me.”
Kohl's said they take allegations of this nature very seriously. “We have apologized to the customer directly for her poor experience and have been in frequent dialogue with her, working toward a resolution,” a spokesperson for the company said.
Montoya said the company did apologize but is downplaying the incident. She said she would like an apology directly from the workers who accused her.
"There's not much they can do to fix the problem," she said. "They need to implement policies to make this stop."
