A nude woman who calmly walked into two New York businesses this week shocked employees and attracted the gaze of more than one startled shopper.
Temperatures may have only been in the 60s in Saratoga Springs on Tuesday, but that did not stop 49-year-old Barbara Lafleur from stripping down to her birthday suit while she went shopping along Route 67, authorities said.
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"It was bizarre. It was a very bizarre case. We've never had anything like this happen," Saratoga County District Attorney James Murphy III told The Huffington Post.
Lafleur's first stop was Curtis Lumber, where surveillance cameras captured her strolling casually through the store. Contacted by HuffPost Friday, store manager Bob Eakin said he was no longer allowed to comment on the incident. In an earlier interview with the Times Union, Eakin said Lafleur asked a couple of employees what time it was, told them to "Have a good day," and then walked out.
"No one wanted to say much to her," Eakin told the newspaper. "It's not a situation you want to be involved in."
After leaving the lumber yard, Lafleur allegedly walked a short distance to a Stewart's Shops convenience store, where police say she again did little to protect the modesty of the shopping public.
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"The clerk said, 'Excuse me, ma'am, did you know you have no clothes on?' and she said, 'Oh yeah I'm totally fine with that,'" Murphy explained.
Stewart's Shops spokesman Tom Mailey said the manager of the store was initially concerned about the woman.
"When something like that happens, I think your first concern is, is something wrong, so he chatted with her briefly and [then] asked her to leave," Mailey told HuffPost.
The Saratoga County Sheriff's Office was called and the woman was picked up and taken for a mental evaluation.
"A psychiatrist examined her and said she is perfectly fine, so that was a different kind of response than we had anticipated," Murphy said. "She was not on any drugs or medications we are aware of."
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So why the nude shopping spree?
"She is just a person who believes in the freedom of nudism. That was her explanation," Murphy said.
Lafleur was released pending a future court appearance. If convicted on a misdemeanor charge, she could face a fine and a maximum sentence of 90 days in jail.
"This [incident] was a first for us," Mailey said. "I'm probably not in favor of it happening more, but it certainly has created some noise, that's for sure."
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