Sunrise Cops Pinch Panty Theft Suspects
SUNRISE (CBSMiami) - The case of the purloined panties from Victoria's Secret in the Sawgrass Mills mall may have been solved.
Sunrise police have charged 18-year old Daniel Espinosa and a juvenile with grand theft for allegedly going on three shoplifting sprees in late 2013 in which nearly $12,000 in panties and thongs were stolen.
On November 23rd, the pair are accused of stealing 300 "Dream Angel" thongs valued at $3,750.00. They stashed the panties in a blue and pink bag in a shopping cart, put another bag on top of it and wheel it out of the store, according to Espinosa's arrest report.
About three weeks later, on December 13th, the pair reportedly went back to the store and stole 175 pairs of women's underwear valued at approximately $2,500. Again, they allegedly stashed pinched panties into a bag, this time a white Finish Line bag in a shopping cart, and left the store.
A week later, on Dec. 20th, Sunrise police said the pair struck again but the third time wasn't the charm.
An employee, who works loss prevention at the store, watched as they put more than $5,400 worth of underwear into a bag and leave the store. She went after them and confronted them in a mall common area. Police said they pushed to her to the ground, dropped the stolen merchandise and took off.
Earlier this week, police released surveillance pictures of the two people they were looking for in connection with the thefts. They soon got a call from a Miami Springs police who said a woman called them after a story about the thefts on the television news.
The employee identified Espinosa and the juvenile as the people in the surveillance pictures. Police tracked down the juvenile and then Espinosa.
During questioning, police say Espinosa admitted to the thefts and implicated the juvenile as his accomplice.
