California
Police searching for another suspect after arresting four people in an ongoing shoplifting incident in Palo Alto
Palo Alto, California – The Palo Alto Police Department took four suspects into custody on Sunday who were said to have stolen items from the Stanford Shopping Center in an organized retail theft.
At around 6 o’clock on Sunday evening, the retail store Lululemon contacted police to report an ongoing shoplifting incident at the Stanford Shopping Center located at 180 El Camino Real.
Officers arrested four suspects as soon as they arrived at the scene.
A total of 100 pairs of leggings worth over $12,000 were recovered by officers.
The four suspects arrested at the scene were not the only ones involved in the theft, as a thorough investigation showed that there was a fifth suspect also. Authorities were able only to locate the fifth suspect’s vehicle in the parking lot, and many bags with stolen items were found inside. The fifth suspect remains at large.
The items in the bags were said to have been stolen from several other Lululemon stores located in San Mateo and Burlingame. The items in the bags were valued at $38,000.
Grafi Dumitru, age 18, Elvira Fistogeanu, age 22, Florentina Izabela Matei, age 20, and a 16-year-old female teenager were all taken into custody on suspicion of committing felony organized retail theft, felony possession of stolen property, and felony conspiracy.
If you have information regarding this case, please call the Palo Alto dispatch center at (650) 329-2413.