A Shreveport woman is behind bars after stealing from a Bossier City Wal-Mart.

28-year-old Marquita Bates walked into the Wal-Mart on Airline Drive in Bossier City Monday afternoon.

While she was in the store, she hid close to 70 dollars worth of items in her 6-year-old son's jacket.

After being confronted by the store officials, Bates ran, dragging her child through the parking lot where he was almost hit by a vehicle.

Bates got into her car and drove off, but several hours later, she returned to the scene of the crime.

"Apparently the woman showed back up at Wal-Mart to pick up a ring she had left there to be sized," said Mark Natale, Public Information Officer for Bossier City.

Evidence left at the scene, including Bates phone and her son's jacket led to her arrest.

The incident sparks the question of how an event like this can affect a child's behavior.

"If mom does it or dad does it and they see it, it's what we call internalized, they take that as the proper way to behave," said Dr. Bruce McCormick, Medical Psychologist.

Dr. McCormick says about 50 percent of his patients are children.  He says while the event can have an affect on the child now, it can also have the same affect as they grow into adulthood.

"Things that are very very upsetting as child actually biologically predispose us for vulnerabilities in behavioral health and emotionality as adults," said McCormick.

Bates was booked into the Bossier City Jail and charged with theft and child desertion.  She has since been transferred to the Bossier Parish Maximum Security Facility