Thieves shoplifted almost $29,000 in bras and panties from two Victoria’s Secret stores on the Treasure Coast this year.

Most of the amount was stolen in just a handful of incidents, including a grab of more than $12,000 in merchandise from the Indian River Mall store on Nov. 30. And in February, the location at the Treasure Coast Square mall in Jensen Beach had more than $5,200 worth of merchandise stolen, according to the Martin County Sheriff’s Office.

“It’s probably the work of professional thieves,” said Chris McGoey, a Los Angeles-based retail theft expert. “Victoria’s Secret isn’t exclusively being targeted, but you probably have a team of thieves who travel from state to state and they’ve targeted Victoria’s Secret because they know how the stores are staffed.”

The law enforcement reports on the crimes expose why thieves may be slipping out of the stores. Employees at both Treasure Coast locations told deputies there are no cameras set up in the stores. Last month following the incident at the Indian River Mall, employees said there are parts of the store that aren’t visible from the checkout counter.
“They’re taking the merchandise for resale purposes,” McGoey said. “They either have (someone to re-sell it), or they’re putting them on eBay.”

The lingerie chain’s parent company, Limited Brands, said it is fighting back against the crimes. But the company’s methods are, well, unmentionable.

“To protect our associates and our customers, Limited Brands has and will continue to work aggressively with local law enforcement authorities to deter, and, when possible, prosecute for theft,” spokeswoman Brooke Stull said. “For obvious security reasons, we cannot discuss the specific measures we are taking.”

Limited Brands officials are also keeping it a secret about the amount of merchandise that has been stolen through its stores. Reports from Murfreesboro, Tenn., Roseville, Calif., Fairfield, Conn., and other cities show other sizable thefts.

The Indian River Mall store reported no thefts in 2007, law enforcement officials said. But in Jensen Beach, Treasure Coast Square store reported two thefts totaling more than $8,100.

By Lamaur Stancil
TCPalm.com

Tags: theft, thieves, Victoria's Secret

This entry was posted on Monday, December 29th, 2008 at 9:32 am and is filed under Crime, Indian River County, Jensen Beach, Weird News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.