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So she followed her out to the parking lot, leading to the discovery of dozens of gift cards bought with bogus credit cards and the arrests of four people from Brooklyn.
Officer Liz Zimmerman was at the King's Supermarket around 7 p.m. Wednesday when she spotted 23-year-old Ashley Green trying different credit cards, Police Chief Robert Francaviglia said.
"Zimmerman immediately recognized this behavior as suspicious, knowing that quite often people will use fraudulently obtained credit cards to purchase pre-paid gift cards," the chief said.
Green quickly ducked out, with Zimmerman behind, he said.
After calling for backup, the officer watched Green get into a waiting vehicle that then pulled into an adjacent lot to pick up another woman, identified as Vanessa Negron, 26.
Officer Mike Camporeale pulled up moments later and stopped the car.
Taken into custody were Green, Negron and 26-year-old Anthony Whitehead.
They were carrying more than 50 pre-paid gifts cards and more than 30 credit cards, Francaviglia said.
Zimmerman doubled back to the King's about an hour and 15 minutes later to follow up.
While talking to employees, "she was alerted to the presence of a female who was attempting to use what appeared to fraudulent credit cards to purchase pre-paid gift cards," the chief said.
The woman -- identified as Saliana Sok, 21 -- gave the officer a phony Pennsylvania driver's license, then bolted out the door, he said.
Zimmerman chased her down and took her into custody.
A Municipal Court judge ordered Sok held on $14,500 bail in the Bergen County Jail.
The others were ordered held on $25,000 bail.
All were variously charged with trafficking in personal identity, conspiracy and fraud counts, among other offenses. Sok also was charged with resisting arrest.
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