Thieving Teens Busted trying to steal from Dick’s Sporting Goods
Photo: Tayler Kelly
Ventura County – The Dick’s Sporting Goods retail stores were the target of four teenagers bent on stealing whatever they could on the afternoon of June 24th.
According to Ventura County Sheriff’s Department spokesman Detective Theordore Stern, it was just after 1:30 p.m. on the 24th when 18-year-old Gardena resident Tayler Kelly and three male juvenile accomplices visited the Dick’s store in Thousand Oaks with apparent criminal intent.
While inside the store, they were spotted by a female employee who “believed they were acting in a manner consistent with organized retail theft.”
The employee’s perceptions were proved accurate when she approached the three young males to offer her help in selecting items for purchase and reached for garments being held by one of the boys.
The boy then threatened the clerk with assault, which brought a male employee to the scene. Another of the male suspects “pushed the employee away,” at which point the trio summarily dropped the merchandise in their hands and “quickly walked toward the front door,” ultimately departing in a vehicle bearing paper plates.
Less than an hour later, the suspects arrived at a second Dick’s Sporting Goods location in Oxnard. When they attempted to enter, however, they were “turned away at the door,” as the Oxnard location had been made aware of the prior event in Thousand Oaks.
As the suspects returned to their vehicle, they “forcibly stole an uninvolved woman’s purse” and made good their escape.
Shortly thereafter, the suspect vehicle was the subject of a traffic stop conducted by a Thousand Oaks Police Department patrol unit. All four suspects were detained and identified as the individuals involved in the earlier crimes.
The three juvenile males were transported to Ventura County Juvenile Justice Center, where they were booked on charges of robbery, participation in a criminal street gang, and conspiracy to commit a crime. Kelly was transported to Ventura County Jail where he was booked on the aforementioned charges with his bail set at $100,000.
Photo: Courtesy Ventura County Jail Booking
