Robbery at San Mateo mall stopped after stolen car spotted outside
SAN MATEO -- A report of a stolen car in San Mateo led to law enforcement arresting two people who were in the process of robbing a Sephora, police said.
The San Mateo Police Department was notified of a stolen vehicle near the Hillsdale Shopping Center around 2:40 p.m. Tuesday. An officer spotted the vehicle minutes later in a handicap parking stall at the mall.
Officers continued to watch the car as they waited for the San Mateo County Vehicle Theft Task Force.
An agent with the task force notified officers that the car had two occupants, a man and a woman. A second woman was talking to the occupants while standing next to the car.
Police said the two women left the car and walked into Sephora. Task force agents followed them into the store, and police said the women dropped their personal bags upon seeing the agents.
According to police, the two women had taken nearly $7,000 worth of merchandise off the shelves and were headed toward the exit without paying when they saw the agents.
The suspects were identified as San Francisco residents Dominique West, 43, and Jessie Stewart, 46.
Meanwhile, agents arrested the man in the car, identified by police as 51-year-old Sekou Carson, on a robbery warrant.
Police said Stewart was arrested by the task force on suspicion of possessing a stolen vehicle, burglary and conspiracy and theft-related warrants. West was arrested on suspicion of burglary and conspiracy.
All three of the suspects were booked into the San Mateo County Jail.