Palm Beach Police: Men arrested after targeting, stealing from shoppers
A pair of men were arrested last week after police say they targeted shoppers leaving the Royal Poinciana Plaza.
In particular, the men — one a 35-year-old from Jupiter and the other a 32-year-old from Los Angeles — targeted two shoppers who carried Hermès’ iconic bright orange shopping bag, signifying high-value items inside, police said.
At least two shoppers were targeted, arrest reports show.
The first shopped at Hermès about 4 p.m. April 26, reports say. That person left The Royal Poinciana Plaza and drove a Range Rover to Le Bar at 380 S. County Road, parking in the lot on the west side of the building. When they returned to their car about 15 minutes later, they found that the rear passenger window had been shattered and an orange Hermès bag was missing from the front seat, the reports say.
More: Palm Beach 'moving in the direction' of EVs; adds Ford Mustang Mach-E to police fleet
More: Woman drives Rolls-Royce through Palm Beach backyard onto beach, police say
Inside the bag were a pair of lizard skin emerald green Hermès sandals valued at $2,000; a pair of light green Hermès sandals valued at $700; and a pair of white Hermès tennis shoes valued at $1,200.
Police checked security footage and found that the person parked in the lot next to Le Bar at 4:37 p.m. Soon after, a green Hyundai SUV pulled up on the south side of the building. A man got out of the car.
Another security camera caught the same man a moment later as he stood near the Range Rover’s rear passenger window holding an orange Hermès bag, the police reports say. Shattered glass from the window was on the ground, and the man reached through the window several times, the reports say.
The man walked away from the Range Rover and returned a minute later to look through the car one more time before he left the parking lot, the police reports say.
In the second incident, a person called Palm Beach police on April 27 to report that the Hermès blanket they bought the day before had been stolen from their car.
Police were able to use the town’s license plate recognition system to identify the green Hyundai SUV, the tag number and its owner, according to the reports.
The morning of April 27, police found the green Hyundai SUV in front of an apartment in Jupiter. The officer met with the 35-year-old man, who pointed them to the man from Los Angeles, saying he and his brother had hired the Jupiter man to drive them around, police reports say.
The Jupiter man told police he had dropped off the brothers at The Royal Poinciana Plaza, and that he knew when he dropped them off “that they would commit burglaries,” police reports say.
Based on that information, police got a search warrant for the West Palm Beach airbnb where the Los Angeles man and his wife were staying. As police searched the home, the airbnb owner, who also lives on the property, told officers about a crawlspace behind a washer and dryer where things could be hidden, police reports say.
When officers searched the crawlspace, they found the items that had been reported stolen, along with a pair of black men’s shoes from Hermès. Later, when asked about the men’s shoes and shown a photo, the first person who reported the theft said the shoes belonged to them, and they did not know they were in the car at the time of the burglary, according to the reports.
Both the Jupiter man and the Los Angeles man were arrested April 27, records show. It's unclear from the reports what happened to the Los Angeles man's brother.
The man from Los Angeles was released on $20,000 bond. He faces charges of burglary to a vehicle, grand theft and dealing in stolen property, court records show.
As of Monday morning, the man from Jupiter was being held at the Palm Beach County Jail on $4,000 bond. He faces charges of burglary to a vehicle and grand theft, records show.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Daily News: Palm Beach Police: Men arrested after targeting, stealing from shoppers
