Crime Report: Groups of shoplifters target cosmetics, handbags in Plaza stores

Feb. 6

Shoplifting: 600 block of Foothill Boulevard (Plaza de La Cañada shopping center). A store employee reported seeing three young adults — two slender black males wearing hooded jackets and carrying backpacks, and a black female who was carrying what appeared to be an empty white shopping bag — enter the store together at around 8 p.m. One of the males asked where the restroom was. After being given directions, he and his companions went toward the restroom and stood near it for about five minutes. They then moved toward the cosmetics section. The employee could hear items being taken off display shelves, so he went to check on them and saw one of the suspects putting cosmetic items into the backpack he’d been carrying. All three suspects then left the store without paying for the items, which included multiple Revlon lipsticks, eye shadows, nail polishes and other cosmetics. The deputy who wrote the report noted that another deputy had been called to a store in the 3000 block of Foothill Boulevard in La Crescenta less than an hour later where three suspects matching the same descriptions had shoplifted cosmetics there.

Feb. 7

Identity theft: 600 block of Georgian Road. A man reported that between Jan. 17 and Feb. 5, someone used his name, Social Security number, home and work addresses to open credit cards at Lowe’s and the Home Depot.

Grand theft from unlocked vehicle: 3700 block of Berwick Drive. A man reported that he left his 2017 Jaguar parked, unlocked, in the driveway in front of his residence at about 1 p.m. Feb. 6. Thinking he would return to it soon, he left his wallet in it. At about 1:30 a.m. the next day, his parents woke him up to tell him they’d heard the car start, then immediately shut off. He went outside at that time to investigate but didn’t see anything amiss. Later that morning he discovered that his wallet — containing his driver’s license, five credit cards, his health insurance card and some currency — was missing from the car, as were a pair of Tom Ford sunglasses and the Jaguar’s key. He noticed a large handprint on the car’s hood and discovered the plastic grill was bent.

Feb. 9

Burglary, business: 600 block of Foothill Boulevard (Plaza de La Cañada shopping center). Three black males and two black females entered a store together, went directly to the handbag display, took three high-end handbags (Louis Vuitton, Valentino and Longchamp brands) and exited the store without paying for them.

Burglary, residential: 800 block of Lynnhaven Lane. A man reported he was standing in his kitchen at about 12:20 p.m. that day when he saw two men, one with a gray bag over his shoulder and the other with a black backpack over his shoulder, running from his neighbors’ front yard and onto the street. Both men covered their faces with their sweatshirt hoods and were wearing gloves. They climbed into the rear seat of a four-door Nissan, which was then driven up Princess Anne Road and out of view. The witness went outside, heard his neighbors’ burglar alarm sounding and called 911. Responding deputies found that a bathroom window at the neighbors’ home had been shattered and the front door was unlocked, so they surmised entry had been made through the window, with the thieves exiting through the front door after ransacking the house. The victims said that when they’d left the house at midmorning, all doors and windows had been secured.