Police made a grisly discovery Thursday at the Herald Square Victoria’s Secret — a teen they were arresting for shoplifting was carrying a dead fetus in her shopping bag, police sources said.
A security guard caught Tiona Rodriguez, 17, and an unidentified companion looting lingerie from the racks of the store at 34th Street and Broadway around 1:30 p.m., sources said.
The worker confronted the women and held them until police came to the store, the sources said.
It was then that the chilling discovery was made — Rodriguez was holding a shopping bag containing a stillborn baby that appeared to have been in its sixth month of development, sources said.
Rodriguez told police that she had a miscarriage, a source said.
“She said she had the baby yesterday,” another source said. “It was not full-term. She said she didn’t know what to do with it.”
Rodriguez, who lives in the Marcy Houses in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, was taken to Bellevue Hospital for evaluation, sources said.
The other suspect was hauled into the precinct house for questioning, sources said.
Charges against the alleged thieves were pending late Thursday.
The gruesome news of the baby’s remains shocked shoppers at the chain store.
“It makes me feel sick. I don’t understand the thought process, to have a baby in a bag and then shoplift,” said Erit Maor, a 27-year-old graduate student from Forest Hills.
“I think it’s very strange that they didn’t shut down the store. I feel a level of disrespect,” she added.
Maor said it was business as usual in the store, adding that she didn’t even realize that the macabre discovery had taken place.
“You wouldn’t know anything had happened if you were in there. You would think it would look like a crime scene,” she said. “I’ve never heard of anything like this.”
Other stunned shoppers believed mental illness played a role.
“I think it’s crazy. It’s a newborn baby in a bag. I just had a baby a month ago and I’m shocked,” said Jazmin Barrett, 24, a hostess from The Bronx. “She needs some psychological help.”
Yvonne Sonera, 44, a student from Jamaica, Queens, agreed.
“That’s horrible. She must be going through a big depression. She’s not well,” Sonera said. “I’m surprised that could happen here with that many people around.”
Another shopper, Angelica Vera, 16, of Manhattan, said, “It’s kind of shocking. She didn’t do anything about it. She should have talked to her parents or gone to the hospital.”
Additional reporting by Amber Sutherland