Watch: Thief Thinks He's Escaping With $18k of Goods, Stopped Dead in His Tracks When Window Knocks Him Out Cold
Surveillance video has offered a new candidate for the worst thief of the year.
Bellevue police recently released a video of a 17-year-old who tried to rob a Louis Vuitton store in Washington state, according to KOMO-TV.
The thief ripped handbags off of a display until about $18,000 worth of goods was amassed.
But the exit? Not so good. Instead of zipping out the door, the thief ran into a plate glass window, knocking himself out.
You can see the entire comedy of errors below:
“Brazen is the perfect word for it,” Bellevue police Capt. Rob Spingler said
The Louis Vuitton caper was part of a growing trend, police said. Bellevue police said they have arrested more than 50 repeat offenders at Home Depot in cases of robbery and shoplifting.
“It’s just not OK, it isn’t, something that needs to be done,” Penny Pahl, owner of IGSM Wireless said, according to KOMO.
“We put our blood and sweat into our businesses and for someone to just be so brazen to walk into our business and take what we work our whole life for? It is taking away our livelihood,” Pahl said.
King County prosecutors have filed charges in 59 organized retail theft cases so far this year, with 14 of those in Bellevue and 25 in Seattle. Pahl said the issue runs deeper than arrests.
“If these guys are caught, they go to court, they go through the process, but what are the repercussions?” Pahl asked.
Republican state Rep. Mark Schoesler of Washington state said state government needs to do more to help retailers.
“Retailers have been forced to endure an increase in crimes occurring on their property, including theft and fraud,” he said in a release on his website. “Organized retail theft rings have become more brazen, violent and sophisticated in targeting stores. They are putting the safety of customers and store employees in danger.”
“Retail crimes, especially theft, have become so much worse in recent years that the Washington Retail Association just released a retail-crimes resource guide for its members,” Schoesler said. “To me, that says the state isn’t providing enough help for retailers and local and state law enforcement agencies don’t have enough officers to effectively combat retail theft.”
The Seattle area is not alone.
Jeremy Girard of the Oregon Retail Crime Association said retail theft in the Portland area is “at a crisis level,” according to KGW-TV.
Girard estimated losses at some stores of between $1 million and $5 million.
“Stores are not going to be able to sustain for the long haul if organized retail crime continues to get worse,” he said.
“Basically, anything that has resale value is being targeted,” he said.
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