Kim Kardashian’s shoplifting story is no laughing matter.
The reality star, who recently collaborated on a sunglasses collection with Carolina Lemke, told Bustle in an article published last week about a sunglasses shoplifting incident that happened many years ago.
“We were in Hawaii and there was this Christian Dior store and no one [was working] there. Like, it was [in] the wild... just an empty store. Khloe (her sister) really wanted the Dior sunglasses, so she took them and we walked out,” Kardashian said, as Bustle noted that she was giggling while telling the story.
“These sunglasses were everything. I still have them to this day and they were so much fun,” the 38-year-old added.
“So cute. That was so funny. We were like, ‘This is wild.’ I think the [employee] must have gone to the bathroom or been in the back by herself on a Sunday. I don’t know what the story was, but it was really funny.”
Barbara C. Staib, the director of communications for the National Association for Shoplifting Prevention (NASP), told MarketWatch that Kardashian’s story is far from a joke.
“People don’t understand the bottom-line ramifications. The Dior store owner probably laid out $95 or $100, if they were $200 sunglasses,” Staib said.
“So they lost that cash right out of their pocket, and they also lost the profit they should have had from those sunglasses,” Staib said. She noted the store would have had to sell several other pairs of sunglasses to recoup its loss.
According to the NASP, shoplifting in Hawaii for an item over $100 is a misdemeanor crime. The minimum fine for shoplifting something of that nature carries a minimum fine of “three times the value or aggregate value involved.”
If the item is over $300, the shoplifter could be charged with a class C felony and pay four times the value or aggregate value of the stolen item.
Kardashian’s story of a youthful theft comes as the reality star has recently become interested in criminal justice reform.
In 2017, she used her legal team to aid Cyntoia Brown, who was convicted of murdering a 43-year-old man in 2004 who she claimed raped her after she was solicited for prostitution as a 16-year-old. Brown was later granted clemency after serving 15 years of her life sentence.
Last year, Kardashian met with President Donald Trump at the White House to discuss prison reform and the nation’s sentencing laws, as well as to seek clemency for Alice Johnson, a grandmother who received a life sentence for a first-time, nonviolent drug offense. Days later, Trump granted Johnson clemency.
Kardashian has not responded to HuffPost for comment.