If so, she is a fool for allowing the little girl to be escorted out of the store,

by either one of them, or both of them.

That is stupid.

I'd say not contacting the store authorities immediately is cause

for the deep suspicion, and leaving the store under any circumstances

is really, really stupid by any rationale.

After a complete investigation, the charges might be dropped,

but I don't know. The "rescuers" behavior is hardly appropriate.

They should have simply contacted any employee of the store,

and had them contact the store security and the police.

It also was NOT up to them to decide who her mother was... ???

weird.