If you were making your own list of who's naughty and nice, one caveat for nice might be "don't shoplift and be greedy."
It's what got four people arrested at Lenox Square on December 18th, after police said they were caught with nearly $15,000 worth of stolen goods on Dec. 18.
Off-duty Atlanta police officers were called about a shoplifting in progress at Victoria's Secret. The officers found two people outside the store and two people inside the store -- all four had large garment bags.
“It looked like they were coordinating with each other on some of the items they were taking and putting into their bags," said Atlanta Police Sgt. John Chafee.
There are a few interesting things to note here:
1. The bags they were carrying.
“Each of them had a large garment bag and those bags were lined with a metallic liner," Chafee explained.
The bags, called booster bags, are used to dupe a store's alarm system from triggering when someone tries to leave with a sensor still attached to an item. Law enforcement is familiar with booster bags.
“Typically, they wouldn’t stand out all that much but then they’ll line then with some sort of a metallic material that will block those sensors with interacting with the store security as they walk out.”
2. How much was stolen and how they were caught.
Close to $3,500 worth of items from Victoria's Secret were found when they four were first questioned. Come to find out, it was the second time they were inside the store.
Chafee explained security noticed the four came back a second time (after not buying anything the first time) and became suspicious, which lead to the shoplifting call. But, when the four were being questioned, security at Brooks Brothers inside the mall, called in a shoplifting call of their own.
Officers went to check those security cameras and to their surprise, they didn't have to do any searching for the suspects.
"They determined that two of the people they had in custody had been the shoplifters in that case in that same day," said Chafee.
Those same garment bags, held over $3,000 worth of Brooks Brothers items.
Suspects accused of stealing $15K worth of merchandise from mall
And finally, when the suspects car was examined, officers found another $7,000 plus amount of items from other stores, not at the Lenox mall. Those items also had security sensors still on them. So, it looks like their "shopping spree" might have been an ongoing occurrence.
At the end of the day, three men and one woman -- Tyiesha Dowdell, Fred McConnell, Donnie Horn, and Brian Robinson -- were arrested and charged with possession of tools to commit a crime (for having the booster bags) and theft by shoplifting in excess of $500, which is a felony.
If the items in the car are determined to have been stolen from other stores in other districts, they could face additional felony shoplifting charges.