Birthday dinner disrupted by couple's theft allegation, Triangle woman says

A North Carolina mother is furious after her daughter was falsely accused of stealing at Crabtree Valley Mall while the girl was celebrating her 17th birthday with a dinner at the Cheesecake Factory, the woman said Monday.

Roslyn Lewis said mall police officers humiliated her teenage daughter by suggesting that she had pocketed some money from another mall patron.

Lewis said she begged officers to search her daughter's bag to prove her innocence, but the couple who accused her teenage daughter started to shout at the teen.

"Just yelling and screaming and pointing, saying, 'She did it. Arrest her! She did it. Arrest her!,'" Lewis said. "We were just flabbergasted."

The couple told police that the teen stole their money while they were in line at Victoria's Secret.

A mall officer escorted the couple to the girl's celebration at Cheesecake Factory to investigate the alleged theft.

That's when Lewis says the couple began calling her daughter a thief.

"I started yelling back, telling them to get away from my daughter," Lewis said.

The yelling escalated to a screaming match, and Crabtree Valley officials brought in more officers to break up the verbal altercation.

When Lewis tried to pull out her phone to grab a picture or video, she says a mall officer shut her down.

"He tells me that it's illegal," Lewis said. "It's against mall policy for me to have my phone out (and) demands for me to put my phone down."

About 30 minutes later, mall police officers agreed to check the girl's bag and surveillance video.

That's when they realized Lewis' daughter was innocent.

Crabtree Valley Mall released a statement about the incident, saying they've met with the family and "apologized sincerely for the distress they suffered as a result of the untrue accusation."

"It just ruined our entire evening," Lewis said. "My grandchildren are traumatized and crying, biting their finger nails like, ‘What's going on?’ We're humiliated, and then the guy actually finds the money in his pocket."

While the case of the missing money was resolved, Lewis says significant damage has been done to her family.

"Is there ever any way to get back that time on your daughter's birthday night?" Lewis asks. "No. No."