By Jim Clark

Police were dispatched to the Adidas store at Assembly Row last week on reports that a shoplifter was being detained by store personnel.

Upon arrival, officers spoke with the store staff and were told that a female, identified as Saundra Hart, of Dorchester, had allegedly entered a dressing room carrying five items.

She reportedly exited the dressing room and handed one article to a female companion and returned two items to a store employee.

Both women left the store in a hurry, according to the store employee witness, and were later located by police officers at a nearby J.P. Licks ice cream café.

Hart’s companion, Erica Jones, of Hanover, was found sitting at a table in the café, and it was determined that Hart herself was locked in the establishment’s restroom.

Officers stopped Hart as she exited the restroom and, according to police reports, her jacket was “bursting at the seams,” presumably with items stolen from the Adidas store.

Two empty coat hangers were reportedly found inside the restroom.

Hart was repeatedly asked to remove the items, but reportedly refused to. She eventually unzipped her jacket, according to reports, and a multicolor windbreaker from Adidas was found to be under her shirt.

Hart was placed under arrest and charged with shoplifting by concealing merchandise.

Jones was placed under arrest on a warrant charge of operation of a motor vehicle with a suspended license.

As Hart went through the booking process, two items from Adidas were recovered, the windbreaker and a sweatshirt. A pair of wire cutters were also reportedly found on Hart’s person by police.