Shoplifters swarm Gig Harbor shoe store, snatch 11 pairs of trendy sneakers

Shoplifters swarm shoe store

Police say a gang of four shoplifters worked together to steal 11 pairs of Nike and Converse shoes from Famous Footwear, 5151 Borgen Blvd NW. According to employees, three men and a woman swept into the store on Aug. 3., quickly picked out the expensive shoes and “just walked out of the store.” One of the men complained loudly about being watched, employees told police, then stuffed a pair of shoes in his pants and walked out.

Police obtained the license number of a black GMC Yukon in which the suspects left, and learned it had been used in a similar shoplift at a Famous Footwear store in Lakewood. The car was traced to a 37-year-old Tacoma woman.

Officers believe the same car and the same suspects were believed involved in a similar incident at a Ross Dress for Less store in Gig Harbor, but employees of the store refused to cooperate, telling police they would get in trouble for reporting the theft.

Detectives are continuing to investigate.

Car? What car? Oh, the stolen one

The car theft suspect may have tipped her hand when she asked a police officer to retrieve a pink makeup case from the car she claimed she was never inside.

Gig Harbor police had responded Aug. 3 to a store in the 3400 block of Hunt Street whose employees were worried about the suspicious behavior of two women who were filling a cart with expensive merchandise. When they arrived, officers noticed a Ford Expedition with no plates and a fake temporary license taped to the window. A check of the vehicle identification number revealed it to have been reported stolen by Port of Seattle Police.

Contacted inside the store, the two women denied having anything to do with the stolen car. However, when they were shown security camera video of themselves getting out of the car, the women admitted to having driven it. That’s when one of them asked for her makeup case back.

The suspects, a 47-year-old woman from Olalla and a 40-year-old from Steilacoom, were placed under arrest and cited. The car was impounded, but officers returned the makeup case.

Smash-and-grab robberies in parks

Police reported three separate smash-and-grab car prowls at Gig Harbor parks in the last week.

Two of the incidents occurred on Aug. 5 at the Borgen Boulevard parking lot at the west end of the Cushman Trail, and one on Aug. 8 at Wilkinson Farm Park. In all three cases, drivers left their cars to walk and returned to find the passenger window smashed.

Items taken included a purse, credit cards — and in one case, the driver’s lunch bag.

In a fourth incident, a man who left his car in the Kimball Drive Park and Ride lot in Aug. 6 returned to find someone had sawed partly through his catalytic converter, but without completing the theft. The man discovered the damage when he started the car and heard “a loud noise,” police said.

This story was originally published August 11, 2021 at 5:30 AM.