Update to the story:
11-2-2011
http://news.yahoo.com/apnewsbreak-safeway-drops-sandwich-theft-charges-022842086.html
Safeway drops sandwich theft charges
The Safeway supermarket chain is declining to press charges against a Honolulu couple whose arrests over stolen sandwiches led state workers to take their 2-year-old daughter and sparked nationwide outrage.
Karl Schroeder, a Safeway division president, called Nicole Leszczynski on Tuesday, and, "He apologized for what she's been through," Houghton said.
The family had moved to an apartment near downtown Honolulu from Monterey, California, two weeks ago. Still settling in, they ventured out Wednesday to stock up on groceries, took the bus, got lost, and ended up at a Safeway supermarket, Nicole said.
Famished, the former Air Force staff sergeant openly munched on one while she shopped, saving the wrapper to be scanned at the register later.
But she said they forgot to pay for the sandwiches as they checked out with about $50 worth of groceries.
"When the security guard questioned us, I was really embarrassed, I was horrified," Nicole told AP on Monday. They were led upstairs, where the couple expected to get a lecture, pay for the sandwiches, and be allowed on their way.
But store managers wouldn't allow them to simply pay, she said.
Four hours later, a police officer arrived and read them their rights. A woman from the Child Welfare Services arrived to take Zofia away.
Leszczynski called the incident "so horrifying. It seemed to escalate and no one could say, 'this is too much.'"
The pregnant mother said she tried to keep her composure until Zofia, who turns 3 in December, left the store.
"I didn't want Zofia to be scared because she's never spent a night away from us. She didn't have her stuffed animal. She didn't have her toothbrush."
But as soon as her daughter left, "I got completely hysterical. I went to the bathroom and I threw up," she recalled.
A Honolulu police spokeswoman said it was routine procedure to call Child Welfare Services if a child is present when both parents are arrested.
Nicole said she and her husband were told they were banned from the store for one year.