Two Auburn women are accused of using their large purses to steal almost $1,150 in merchandise from four stores at the Waterloo Premium Outlets mall Friday, state police said Monday.

Troopers said Frances Copes, 24, of 54 Parker St., and Jennett Bowman, 21, of 145 Park Place, are accused of first stealing tools from Black & Decker in order to cut off the security tags from merchandise they stole from Old Navy, Aldo and the Banana Republic.

After cutting off the tags, the two women are accused of shoving the items into their over-sized purses in order to smuggle their loot back to the car, troopers said. Most of the items consisted of baby and adult clothes, shoes, watches and smaller purses.

The two women were arrested at 2 p.m. after mall security called the police, troopers said.

A responding officer allegedly caught the two women as they were dumping stolen merchandise into their car, troopers said.

Both women are charged with third-degree felony possession of stolen property, troopers said. Bowman is also charged with issuing a false written statement to police and criminal impersonation, both misdemeanors, for giving police a fake name.

Copes is also charged with misdemeanor possession of burglars tools.

Bowman also has active petit larceny-related arrest warrants in Auburn and Onondaga County, troopers said.

Both women were arraigned in the Town of Junius Court and remanded to the Seneca County Jail, where they remain in lieu of bail, which was set at $10,000 cash or $20,000 bond for Bowman and $5,000 cash or $10,000 bond for Copes.