Subscribe | UPI Odd Newsletter Subscribe ZEPHYRHILLS, Fla., March 26 (UPI) -- A shoplifting suspect in Zephyrhills, Fla., confessed she used the U.S. TV series "COPS" as inspiration for her foiled crime, police allege. A Zephyrhills Police Department report states Penni Waters allegedly informed police following her arrest that the Fox reality series about real-life police work had taught her a shoplifting trick, the St. Petersburg (Fla.) Times reported Wednesday. Advertisement Waters, the police report claims, said she learned from the show that lining her pocketbook with aluminum foil would interfere with shoplifting systems at retail stores. The 48-year-old Zephyrhills resident was detained after allegedly attempting to leave a Lowe's store with one of the home improvement site's cordless drills in her handbag, police said. The police report alleged while Waters was able to pass through the store's shoplifting system thanks to her "COPS" trick, a loss prevention officer at the site witnessed her alleged act and stopped her.
