EAST HAMPTON, N.Y. (WCBS 880) — Three men and one woman from New Jersey were indicted Wednesday for allegedly stealing nearly $100,000 worth of purses from a Balenciaga store in the Hamptons earlier this month.
Five people rushed inside the high-end retailer in East Hampton around 1:30 p.m. on March 3 and in a matter of seconds grabbed 48 handbags worth approximately $94,000 before running out of the store and fleeing in a black Dodge Durango, driving nearly 100 miles per hour at times during their getaway as police gave chase.
"This is part of an organized retail theft ring," Suffolk County District Attorney Raymond Tierney said Wednesday as he announced the grand jury indictment. "What we're seeing with the rings is they will go to locations that they think are soft targets and the merchandise they take they can get revenue from it on a secondary market."
One of the suspects, who is unidentified and remains at-large, first walked into the store alone wearing a pink ski-type mask over her face and sunglasses.
She appeared to be on her phone, walking around the store looking at the various bags and after a short time asked a store employee to check if they had a shoe in a particular size in stock.
Prosecutors said when the employee went in the back, three men and one female, who were all masked, ran into the store and started clearing the shelves, snatching as many handbags as they could in just 24-seconds.
Once the suspects took off, the employee called 911 and police managed to find the fleeing Durango.
Police gave chase and authorities arrested four of the suspects when they ran into the woods near Exit 69 of the Long Island Expressway.
Thirty-four of the stolen handbags were found near the scene of the arrests and two were recovered in the parking lot of the Balenciaga store. There are a dozen bags still unaccounted for.
Police also recovered a bag methamphetamine pills in the vehicle.
The suspects have been identified as Jamal Johns, 25, Baseemah Davis, 34, Ali Harris, 28, and Wazir Rodgers, 25, all of Newark, New Jersey.
The defendants were arraigned on grand larceny and criminal possession charges in Riverhead court.
Bail was set for Johns and Davis. Rogers never showed up in court and a warrant was issued out for his arrest.
Harris was released with a GPS monitor.
The fifth suspect is still on the run.
"With regard to the massive amount of retail theft that's going on, stores are closing and ultimately the loss of that revenue gets transferred to the consumers so at the end of the day we all pay," Tierney said.
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