Burglars smash T.J.Maxx cases, steal handbags while customers watch

Crescenta Valley Sheriff’s Station detectives are investigating a smash-and-grab burglary at the T.J.Maxx store in La Cañada Wednesday night, during which suspects broke display cases with a hammer and stole $16,000 in designer handbags while customers shopped nearby.

Watch Commander Lt. Mark Lopez said deputies responded to 663 Foothill Blvd. at about 8:50 p.m., 10 minutes before the store was scheduled to close. A witness working in the store said she saw three black male adults wearing hooded sweatshirts enter the store’s south entrance. One of them was carrying an object that appeared to be a black baseball bat.

Lopez said the suspects used the instrument to smash the purse display cases. Several high-end purses were taken during the incident.

“Then they left through the front door,” the watch commander added.

According to the sheriff’s incident report, one customer saw the fleeing suspects enter a white vehicle that took off northbound on Oakwood Avenue. A deputy searching the premises found one Fendi handbag on a side street with a store tag still on it, the report indicated.

Shoplifting incidents at the Plaza de La Cañada center are not uncommon, Lopez acknowledged, although crime reports rarely describe suspects using force to break store property while customers are nearby.

Anyone who might have more information about Wednesday’s incident is encouraged to call the Crescenta Valley Station at (818) 248-3464.

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