Brockport woman charged with larceny, kidnapping from Greece store

Police say it all started when 41 year old Geraldine Motzer of Brockport stole a small television set from BJ’s on

“She had come out of BJs with the TV in a cart, she was being followed by employees. She gets into a car with the TV and urges the driver to leave. The driver never went in the store with her,” says Lt. Stephen Wise, a criminal investigator with the Greece Police Department.  

According to police, Motzer then got out of her car and ran about 10 feet over to a nearby minivan. The minivan was being loaded with groceries by a Greece family. The mother was returning a grocery cart while the father was loading the last of the groceries. A one-year-old and four-year-old were in the backseat and the minivan was running. Motzer allegedly got into the minivan and drove off with both children in the backseat.

“The Dad did just that (tried to stop the car),” says Lt. Wise, “he grabbed onto the car and he was holding onto it. He fell from the car in the parking lot and he was injured and that's part of the charges the suspect faces.”

Motzer then allegedly drove the car into Rochester and dropped the children, and a diaper bag, off at a house on

“This isn't the best of neighborhoods,” says Bob Hayflinger who answered the door at

Hayflinger called 911 immediately.

“We've never seen anything like that before...you know two kids there and wondering, jeez...what's going on? Who's around? Who's watching?”

Police caught up with Motzer a little while later on

The children stayed at the house on

“She came in and thanked everybody,” says Hayflinger.

Police say Motzer is now facing a litany of felony charges. She is being held in the Monroe County Jail without bail.

“Stealing the TV is a petit larceny class A misdemeanor which is punishable by less than a year in jail but she faces larceny, kidnapping, reckless endangerment, assault charges--all of those are felony charges, all of those carry some pretty serious weight,” says Lt. Wise.