In the span of four days, two prominent stores on Rodeo Drive were struck by coordinated robberies that carried away tens of thousands of dollars worth in merchandise. Yves Saint Laurent on Rodeo and South Santa Monica Boulevard was struck on Dec. 27 and Fendi was robbed on Dec. 29. The incidents, both filmed and widely shared on social media, involved multiple suspects who entered the stores, quickly grabbed merchandise, and fled. In the most recent heist, Beverly Hills Police Department (BHPD) patrol units intercepted a suspect’s vehicle shortly after the event and made four arrests. The two crimes share many of the same details, and according to BHPD, officials suspect a link.
“Due to the on-scene investigation and immediate crime follow up, we believe the arrest [on Dec. 27] is connected to the Saint Laurent crime earlier in the week,” BHPD Spokesperson Lt. Max Subin told the Courier. He could not elaborate on the connection between the arrests and the other crimes, citing the ongoing investigation.
The Yves Saint Laurent robbery occurred around 5:35 p.m. when about eight suspects walked into the luxury store and seized “items including purses, and fled,” Subin said. According to initial estimates of the haul, the suspects made off with $50,000 of merchandise. “As they were fleeing, the security guard was sprayed in the face with a substance believed to be pepper-spray.”
A few nights later around 6 p.m., a woman who had witnessed the suspects running out of Yves Saint Laurent noticed a crowd congregating near Fendi. She snapped a picture on her phone, and then moments later, filmed as 10 suspects bolted out of Fendi with products in hand and ran into three cars idling outside.
“It was like in the span of a couple minutes,” Josh Lekach, a relative of the woman who posted the video told the Courier. The woman wished to remain anonymous. “They were congregating and then they went in and then grabbed stuff and then left.”
Initial reports calculated the loss at $67,000 in goods.
According to Subin, BHPD patrol units located one of the vehicles from the scene, found items from Fendi inside, and arrested the four occupants inside. “The suspects arrested last night for robbery were all juveniles and released to their parents,” he said.
The BHPD Detectives Bureau and Crime Impact Team (CIT) are currently investigating both crimes and working to locate the other two vehicles that got away.
