Two of four suspects were arrested after allegedly crashing vehicles into Fashion Island mall in Newport Beach and stealing high-end merchandise on Monday Feb. 27, police said.
At around 3:45 p.m. Monday, Newport Beach Police Department officers responded to a call from Fashion Island security guards.
Sgt. Shawn Dugan, a Newport Beach police spokesman, said security told police that a vehicle was driven into the Louis Vuitton store and at least two suspects entered the store to steal merchandise.
Police arrived at the Louis Vuitton store in Neiman Marcus at Fashion Island and found two different vehicles had driven into separate portions to gain entry into the business.
The suspects fled the scene in a third vehicle with $100,000 worth of high-end handbags, police said.
“NBPD Officers initiated a pursuit of the suspects toward Los Angeles and the CHP took over the pursuit while on the freeway,” Dugan said.
While being pursued by CHP, the suspects were believed to have thrown some of the stolen merchandise out of the window.
The vehicle was eventually stopped in Los Angeles and the police detained two suspects, a man and woman from Los Angeles.
The two other suspects are believed to have fled from the vehicle and were outstanding as of Wednesday, police said.
Most of the stolen merchandise was recovered during the arrest or earlier outside the store when it was dropped. All three vehicles were recovered.
Detectives were processing recovered evidence to determine the exact loss from Louis Vuitton. Police are not aware of any use of a weapon during the theft.
Read the full article here
