A group of thieves broke into a luxury store in Manhattan’s Upper East Side and made of with $40,000 worth of Chanel and Louis Vuitton handbags in under a minute.
Surveillance footage inside the Designer Revival store, first reported by Upper East Site, shows three men grabbing the expensive handbags last Wednesday morning before the shop opened and quickly running out.
In a Facebook post about the incident, Designer Revival said the brazen robbery was yet another blow to the store as it continues to recover from the economic impacts of the pandemic.
‘We are completely devastated by this attack on our small local shop, the 2nd robbery in less than two years,’ the company wrote.
‘We recognize the deep underlying issues and distress that led these brazen thieves to steal from a small local shop, one that is still recovering from the pandemic. Justice will ultimately be served to the deplorable thieves.’
The robbery came days before a a suspected shoplifting gang who are said to have stolen $70,000 of designer gear in SoHo were filmed ramming an NYPD cop car to try and escape – only for officers to stop them.
These smash-and-grab raids are two of many blighting New York City – and cities nationwide – and comes as the New York Police Department reported a 44 percent spike in crime since last year.
The continued rise in crime and complaints from stores and businesses has led the NYPD to deploy a new quality of life unit to ensure shoppers safety in Midtown.
A group of thieves broke into the Designer Revival store last week, stealing $40,000 worth of Chanel and Louis Vuitton handbags in under a minute
The thieves run out quickly, completing the heist in less than a minute
Designer Revival said the brazen robbery was yet another blow to the store as it continues to recover from the economic impacts of the pandemic. Pictured, the shattered front door
Sunday’s spree allegedly saw the gang steal $14,000 of glitzy Dior, Gucci, Bottega Veneta and Sacai garments. The same crew is said to have been behind a $50,000 raid on the same store on February 6.
The three suspects, identified as Janavia Marable, 29, Brianna Grier, 27, and Jahil Pamplin, 29, were filmed being busted after targeting Kirna Zabete – a high-end boutique that specializes in selling designer fashion – in Manhattan’s ritzy SoHo neighborhood on Sunday.
Their Dodge Charger was filmed trying to race away from cops on Canal Street, then reversing into an NYPD cruiser in a bid to disable it.
But moments later, a huge posse of cops descended on the Dodge and started smashing at it with batons, with the suspects, who are from Newark in New Jersey, pulled out moments later.
A dramatic moment captured a NYC shoplifting gang as they ‘stole $70,000 of designer clothes and bags’ before being rammed and stopped by a NYPD car as they tried to get away
The video, which was posted to TikTok , shows as police officers hit the windows with their batons on the crew’s Dodge Charger
The video, which was posted to TikTok, shows as police officers hit the windows with their batons on the crew’s Dodge Charger.
Afterwards, one of the women could be seen being blasted by the cops for ramming the police car – only to shrug and say that she didn’t know what they were talking about .
During Sunday’s robbery, the trio reportedly ‘removed items from the display cases and racks,’ before running out of the store and jumping into the Charger, the New York Post reported.
‘When officers attempted to conduct a lawful car stop, the vehicle refused to pull over and recklessly drove through traffic,’ an NYPD statement said.
They made off with a Dior pants, Dior jacket, Gucci pants, several Gucci jackets, Sacai jackets, a Bottega crossbody and a Bottega Jodie bag, all of which is worth a combined $14,400. The Bottega Jodie bag alone retails at more than $2,000.
The three Newark, New Jersey residents were all charged with grand larceny, reckless endangerment, fleeing an officer and resisting arrest.
Authorities said the two women in the group had previously shoplifted at the same store back on February 6, and received an extra charge for robbery for that incident.
During that time, Marable, Grier and two other suspects entered the store before making off with 26 handbags valued at $50,000.
Police said in that incident, one of the thieves showed a store employee a gun in his waistband, with the suspects eventually fleeing the scene in two white SUVs.
That investigation is ongoing, according to police.
The cops eventually arrest two women and a man who had attempted to flee in the Charger after another shoplifting spree at Kirna Zabete on 477 Broome Street
Janavia Marable, 29, and Brianna Grier, 27, two suspects being arrested for the shoplifting incident in Soho
The three Newark, New Jersey residents, who of which pictured above, were all charged with grand larceny, reckless endangerment, fleeing an officer and resisting arrest
The repeated smash-and-grabs led officials from Madison Square Garden, 34th Street, Soho and Times Square to call on the NYPD for help, leading the department to form a new unit of more than 30 officers in March to patrol the areas, the New York Post reported.
The cops are working together with the city’s Department of Health, Department of Homeless Services, Sanitation, Parks and Recreation, MTA and Consumer Affairs to ensure the areas are ‘clean, safe and accessible for shoppers, tourists and people going to work,’ a police source told the Post.
The unit has visited more than 100 homeless encampments to clear them out and move the individuals towards city agencies and shelters that can help them.
So far, police have given out more than 150 summonses for urinating and drinking in public, shut down 40 vendors selling counterfeit goods and made dozens of arrests for shoplifting, the Post reported.
Violent crime continues to rise in New York City, with overall crime up more than 44 percent
Retailers have been pushing lawmakers for stricter punishments against shoplifters as a crimewave sweeps the nation, including in NYC where a Rite Aid store in midtown Manhattan closed its doors in February after having $200,000 worth of product stolen in just two months.
‘They come in every day, sometimes twice a day, with laundry bags and just load up on stuff,’ an employee at the now-shuttered Hell’s Kitchen drug store, which used to be open 24 hours, told the New York Post.
‘They take whatever they want and we can’t do anything about it. It’s why the store is closing. They can’t afford to keep it open.’
Designer stores in New York City and nationwide are seeing rampant smash and grab and high street chains are targeted by brazen shoplifters who walk out with armfuls of stolen goods without being stopped by security or staff.
Duane Reade in NYC has been the target of a series of robberies by teenage gangs since February. Another chemist chain, CVS Pharmacy, claims shoplifting has increased by 300 percent since the start of the pandemic began.
The worries reached a peak in summer 2021 amid nationwide smash-and-grab robberies, with Sex and the City Star Cynthia Nixon suggesting CVS allow the thieves to get away with the crimes rather than locking up the products behind cases.
CVS has been locking up expensive body wash, deodorants, razors and home items for years but recently it has started locking up toothpaste and goods. This picture taken on Friday in Greenwich Village shows an entire row of toothpaste behind a lock
Sex and the City Star Cynthia Nixon suggested CVS allow shoplifters to get away with their crimes rather than locking up the products behind cases
The actress and failed New York gubernatorial candidate tweeted last year that she had noticed her local CVS in SoHo had ‘started’ locking up ‘basic items like clothing detergent.’
‘As so many families can’t make ends meet right now, I can’t imagine thinking that the way to solve the problem of people stealing basic necessities out of desperation is to prosecute them,’ Nixon, who is worth an estimated $25 million, tweeted.
She was slammed by people who said the solution was not to invite theft. CVS, Walgreens and Duane Reade have been locking up items for years to deter thieves amid a widespread decriminalization of shoplifting.
Yesterday, DailyMail.com reported on a brazen Manhattan shoplifter who claimed a security guard at a Duane Reade assaulted her when he stopped her from walking out of the store with fabric softener.
The shoplifter, identifying herself as ‘Jackie’, gave an interview outside the Duane Reade on 14th Street in Union Square on Wednesday after her clash with security, claiming they dragged her into a back room and issued her with a notice banning her from all the chain’s stores across the state.
Jackie spoke openly about her attempts to steal the fabric softener to do her laundry and claims when the security guard stopped her at the door, she complied and handed over the merchandise before trying to leave the store.
‘He put his hands on me and pulled me back into the store and told me I had to go back in,’ she says. ‘They’re not allowed to touch you.’
‘They manhandled me. They dragged me into the store. They actually cut my purse off of me with a box cutter.’
New York Police Department has reported a 44 per cent increase in crime since last year.
Felony assaults are up by more than 19 percent as the New York Police Department reported 5,673 cases so far this year, compared to 4,763 in the same time last year.
The number of shooting victims also soared this year with 332 victims reported so far compared to the 290 last year, a 14.5 percent rise
Rape has also seen a worrying increase of nearly 16 percent, with 410 cases reported so far in 2022.
Robberies have seen the most troubling uptick, with police reporting 3,945 cases so far, a more than 47 percent increase from last year.
Murders, however, have gone down by about 8.6 percent, with police reporting 96 cases for far compared to 105 last year.
The rise in crime has also left New Yorkers believing their lives would be better if they just left the city.
The Fontas Advisors and Core Decision Analytics poll found 59 percent of respondents agreed with the statement: ‘My family would have a better future if we left New York City permanently’
Crime was the leading issue on the voters’ minds, with 41 percent saying public safety was the most pressing issue while 19 percent cited inflation and the high cost of living in the city
A Fontas Advisors and Core Decision Analytics poll found that of 840 New York voters survey, 59 percent agreed with the statement: ”My family would have a better future if we left New York City permanently.’
In comparison, just 15 per cent ‘strongly disagreed’ and 26 per cent ‘somewhat disagreed’ for a total of 41 per cent.
Crime was the leading issue on voters’ minds, with 41 percent of respondents saying public safety was the most pressing issue, while 19 percent cited inflation and the high cost of living in New York.
The poll echoed a similar survey conducted by Morning Consult, which found that of 9,386 adults who work in the city 40 percent said they want to leave the city.
According to that poll, 74 percent of respondents said that safety has gotten worse in the city since the start of the pandemic lockdowns in March 2020, with 82 percent saying homelessness has also worsened.
Overall, 84 percent of respondents said conditions in the city have gotten worse over the past two years, with more than half agreeing that conditions have greatly deteriorated.
New York City workers said they were fed up with the rise in crime and homelessness in the city, according to a recent poll of more than 9,000 employees. Of those polled, 84 percent said conditions in the city have worsened in the last two years
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