After this woman's mall kiosk was hit by shoplifters, she says, she was told nothing could be done

The owner of a kiosk at the Avalon Mall says she's frustrated by a lack of assistance from mall security after she was targeted by teenage shoplifters twice in four days.

Yuqing Yang rented a small kiosk space at the Avalon Mall in St. John's this summer to see if it would be a good fit for her new press-on nail business. But a group of teens stole some of her merchandise earlier this month — twice — shortly after she opened the business, July's Store, she told CBC News.

"I called into security in the mall, they told me the shoplifters are regulars in the mall, they've been stealing from the mall for the past year or so," she said.

Yang said the first theft happened when the group approached her kiosk to look at merchandise. But she didn't realize she'd been stolen from until she saw mall security chase the teens through the concourse later that day. 

Yang said the security guard asked if she had any merchandise missing. She did, and was given the first and last names of the teens in the group and told to file an online police report, which she did.

"In most cases, [the security guard] told me, police won't do anything because those kids are underage," said Yang.

"The first theft I think I lost three to five pairs of nails, so overall I think around $90 to $150."

The second theft, Yang said, involved more teens, and she recognized a few from the previous group. A few of the teens distracted her while others took some jewlery, she said, about $200-$300 worth.

Yang got the same answer from mall security, she said, that the teens frequented the mall and were underage. 

"I asked them, 'If they come back to my kiosk, what can I do?' They told me to tell them they should leave. But they won't listen to me, obviously," she said.

"I feel like they told me there's nothing they can do about it because they're underage."

Royal Newfoundland Constabulary media relations officer Const. James Cadigan called the incidents frustrating, and said any theft can be crushing to a new business.

When someone files a theft report, he said, an investigation is launched and the online report gets forwarded to a patrol officer who follows up.

But there are challenges when dealing with minors.

"It's complex that in a sense when you're dealing with youth, which it seems as though in this case, there's protections for youth under the Youth Criminal Justice Act," Cadigan said.

"We cannot utilize media, for example, to identify photos if we believe them to be youth. Essentially we use our own abilities and familiarity as well as relationships within the community such as with security, with the school and so on."

Yang said foot traffic at the mall is good for business and she wants to return to her kiosk but she's scared to have another run-in with the thieves. 

"I'm not sure yet. Theft is a really big issue and I feel like nobody is doing anything about it."

In a statement, Avalon Mall general manager Donna Vincent told CBC News mall tenants are responsible for opening files with the RNC "in order to ensure continuity of observation."

"Then we would fully co-operate with the RNC investigation and provide any evidence to them to assist with the file as required," Vincent said.

She said mall security offers assistance when notified of an incident. 

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