Background: The Costco warehouse location in Idaho Falls, Idaho (Google Maps). Inset: Michael Garrison Raine (Bonneville County Sheriff”s Office).
An Idaho mother reported to authorities that a man at a Costco attempted to abduct her infant by taking the shopping cart in which her baby was seated.
Michael Garrison Raine, aged 24, was released on a $5,000 bail on November 28, following charges of second-degree kidnapping. As detailed in court records accessed by East Idaho News, police confirmed that Raine appeared on surveillance footage at an Idaho Falls Costco on November 20. This came after a woman claimed he attempted to leave with her shopping cart, which contained her 4-week-old infant.
The woman recounted to police that while she was browsing the book aisle with the cart just out of her direct view but within reach, she noticed a man, later identified as Raine, “lingering” nearby. The cart held a car seat with her baby secured inside. According to the court documents, she had an odd instinct to check on her cart, only to find it missing.
Authorities reported that the mother soon discovered the cart, along with her baby, several aisles away, in Raine’s possession. She swiftly reclaimed the cart, at which point Raine began apologizing repeatedly, saying, “I’ll never do that again, I promise.”
The incident was reported to the Idaho Falls Police Department on November 25. Investigators tracked the movements of both individuals using surveillance video. The footage revealed Raine entering the store, taking an empty cart, and proceeding to the book section where the mother was located. He reportedly “opened a book, brought it close to his nose, and appeared to sniff the pages intently.”
Following this unusual behavior, Raine allegedly “took hold of the cart’s front end,” spun it around from behind the woman, and began pushing it away. Surveillance captured the mother’s quick realization and retrieval of the cart. Raine then approached her in an attempt to converse before proceeding to the self-checkout, purchasing items, and eating at the food court prior to exiting the store.
Police identified the actual owner of the Costco membership that Raine used as his roommate at Brigham Young University – Idaho Falls. The university confirmed that Raine was an enrolled student. The investigation also tracked Raine’s vehicle to a nearby United States Marine Corps Recruiting Station, which Raine visited on the same day he went to Costco. Staff at the recruiting station told police that Raine went with two men in a different vehicle to the Military Entrance Processing Station in Boise, Idaho. Raine reportedly flunked the test after being “disqualified for psychological reasons.”
Raine revisited the recruiting station on Nov. 26, and Idaho Falls Police detectives detained him there for questioning. When they asked him about his trip to Costco on Nov. 20, he told them “nothing out of the ordinary happened.” He was reminded about the alleged incident with the baby in the shopping cart and reportedly responded, “Oh! That! I am so sorry. I remember that now.”
According to police, Raine claimed that he took the cart carrying the baby by mistake, thinking it was his own empty cart that he grabbed by the front and walked away with. He told police, “The next thing he knew, he was confronted by a woman, but he did not know how. The woman did not say anything to him, but he realized he took this woman’s baby and grabbed the wrong cart.”
Raine told police that he apologized profusely to the woman, saying, “I’m sorry, I’ll never do that again.” When police showed him the surveillance video, Raine said, “I was just so oblivious.” He also said, “I guess, I, I don’t know, I really must have been completely out of it.”
He maintained that he apologized for making a mistake, not for allegedly kidnapping the woman’s baby. Raine told police, “I can’t undo that,” and “Like, I won’t ever make that kind of mistake again, just being so unaware of my surroundings that I rob somebody of their child for even just a few seconds.”
Raine was charged with second-degree kidnapping and booked into the Bonneville County Jail on $15,000 bond. That amount was later reduced to $5,000 bond, which Raine posted and he was released on Friday. His next court date is scheduled for Dec. 10.
