Ventura County – With well-rehearsed precision akin to that often seen in popular heist movies, on the afternoon of April 9th six females hailing from the San Francisco Area pulled up to Ventura County’s Camarillo Premium Outlets in their rented Chrysler mini-van (gold in color, no less), quickly alighted, and summarily marched into the upscale store carrying large shopping bags.
Once inside the store, the women quickly, and without exchanging a word among themselves, and filled their large shopping bags with a wide array of merchandise. As they made their sweep through the store aisles, a store employee recognized them from a prior similar burglary some months ago. During that earlier incident, one of the suspects had threatened to shoot the store clerks, which led the employee on this day to believe that there was a credible threat of violence once again.
Just 30 seconds after entering the store, and just as they were contacted by the suspicious employee, “the suspects fled the store with the merchandise without paying for any of the items,” according to Ventura County Sheriff’s Department spokesman Sgt. Pete O’Sullivan. As the six women ran from the store, employees observed them retreat into the gold mini-van and speed away in the direction of U.S. 101.
With VCSD deputies responding to a 911 Emergency call within minutes, all Ventura County law enforcement agencies were soon notified of the burglary and given a detailed description of the getaway vehicle. Shortly thereafter, the mini-van was spotted heading southbound on U.S. 101, heading into the Thousand Oaks area. A “high risk” traffic stop ensued, whereupon deputies “detained the six suspects,” O’Sullivan said.
With a positive identification of all six suspects made by a store clerk who was brought to the scene of the traffic stop, and the discovery of all the stolen items inside the gold mini-van, arrests were made of Lashay Beasley, 21, Mercedes Cannonier, 30, Chappell Turner, 22, Bianca Woodson, 23, Nicole Wigfall, 21, and Andera Rose, 39. All six were transported to Ventura County Jail on charges of burglary, conspiracy, possession of stolen property, and possession of burglary tools, with bail set at $20,000 each.
Photo: Courtesy Ventura County Sheriff
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