Woman arrested, accused of having child steal wallet at Target

SOUTH BRUNSWICK, NJ -- It was a shocking story, two women accused of using a 4-year old to steal a shopper's wallet in New Jersey.

Police say it happened at a Target in South Brunswick.

Now Eyewitness News has learned exclusively about a big break in the case, with the arrest of a suspect.

According to police, the victim had placed her wallet in the top of a shopping cart and was looking at greeting cards.

Surveillance video shows that the child takes the wallet from the cart and hands it to her mother who, police say, goes through the wallet, taking $40 cash and the $1,500 Louis Vuitton wallet.

And credit cards from it were used a short time later at Quaker Bridge Mall.

24-year old Nygeria Dixon was arrested Wednesday in New Brunswick.

"She's charged with theft for stealing the purse, having the child steal it, and also with child endangerment, which is a second degree crime," said South Brunswick Police Lt. James Ryan.

The alleged theft happened Jan. 10th. Days later, we posted still images on Twitter after South Brunswick police released the pictures from Target's security cameras, looking to identify the women. And that was all it took.

"We received over a dozen phone calls that identified the suspect. We received calls from out of state," said Ryan.

One of those out of state calls was reportedly from Dixon's mother, whom sources say sent for the older child and now has her.

Dixon, seen in a clip leaving the store, is 8 months pregnant. She has a $120,000 bail because records show she was picked up once before in West Windsor for a similar theft inside a store.

In that case she was given intervention, no jail-time.

The state is now involved because Dixon has three other children.