The King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office have charged four suspects — two Renton women, one Kent woman, and one Tukwila woman — for an organized retail theft effort that Bellevue police say resulted in approximately $20,000 in stolen sunglasses from Nordstrom.
All four women pleaded not guilty to organized retail theft charges at their arraignments on Jan. 3.
According to the Bellevue Police Department, law enforcement arrested the suspects for involvement in a series of thefts between September and November 2023 of designer sunglasses.
Three of the four women face two counts of organized retail theft in the second degree each.
One woman faces five counts of organized retail theft in the second degree. According to prosecutorial documents, the woman facing five counts was involved in all five incidents of theft between September and November.
According to the department, the suspects would enter the store as a group, steal sunglasses, and conceal them in their clothing and bags before leaving. Bellevue police worked with Nordstrom’s investigative team and mall security, utilizing surveillance footage and documentation of stolen items.
According to an affidavit of probable cause, as police arrested one of the women involved in the thefts, she said, “I didn’t know it was serious.”
All four women were released from the custody of King County Jail on personal recognizance.
The King County Superior Court scheduled the jury trials of the four women for March 20, 2024. The court scheduled their next hearings for Feb. 21, 2024.
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Nordstrom’s Chanel sunglasses rack prior to theft with 21 sunglasses (left) and after theft with 9 sunglasses (right). (Courtesy of court documents.)
