4 Who 'Ransacked' Luxury Store, Stole $94K In Bags, Indicted: PD

EAST HAMPTON, NY — Three men and one woman, all from New Jersey, were indicted Wednesday after stealing more than $90,000 worth of handbags from a luxury shop in East Hampton, Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney said.

One person of the five who reportedly "ransacked" the store remains at large, Tierney said.

A Suffolk County grand jury charged Jamal Johns, 25, Baseemah Davis, 34, Ali Harris, 28,
and Wazir Rodgers, 25, all of Newark, NJ, with the second-degree grand larceny, a felony; second-degree criminal possession of stolen property, a felony; and seventh-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance, a misdemeanor, Tierney said.

The theft was captured on surveillance video at the luxury retail store Balenciaga on Newtown Lane, Tierney said. As the video shows, on March 3 at 1:30 p.m., a female — who is unidentified and remains at-large — entered Balenciaga; she was wearing a pink ski-type mask over her face and sunglasses, Tierney said. She appeared to be on her cell phone as she walked around the store and looked at various handbags; after a short time, she asked a store employee to check if they had a shoe in a particular size, Tierney said.

According to court documents, as the employee attempted to retrieve the shoes for her, three males and one female, all masked, rushed into the store and hurriedly began taking luxury handbags from the shelves, Tierney said. After taking several bags each, all five individuals ran out of the store, got into a Dodge Durango and fled, Tierney said. An employee of a store adjacent to Balenciaga called 911 after noticing the suspicious activity, Tierney said.

Responding officers from the East Hampton Village Police Department located the
fleeing Durango and began a pursuit. As the Durango fled the EHVPD officers at a high rate of
speed, the officers notified other law enforcement agencies of the pursuit; they had to terminate their pursuit because the Durango was leaving their jurisdiction, Tierney said.

Just before 2 p.m., near Exit 63 on Sunrise Highway, a New York State trooper observed the Durango and pursued the Durango as the driver got off of Sunrise Highway at Exit 62 and headed north on Route 111, Tierney said.

That pursuit also had to be terminated due to safety concerns as the Durango was traveling at speeds in excess of 100 miles per hour; the vehicle was observed veering into on-coming traffic lanes, Tierney said.

The trooper saw the Durango heading westbound on the LIE with smoke coming out of the rear of the vehicle, Tierney said. He followed the vehicle from a safe distance and observed the Durango exit the LIE at Exit 69, Tierney said.

The trooper then saw the five people exit the Durango; three of them ran toward a wooded area just north of their location, while two remained at the vehicle, Tierney said.

One man, later identified as Rodgers, reportedly retrieved handbags from the vehicle and fled; the trooper pursued Rodgers on foot and arrested him, Tierney said.

The unidentified female fled and avoided arrest, Tierney said. An ensuing search of the area led to the arrest of the three others, as well as the recovery of 34 of the stolen handbags, Tierney said.

Out of the 48 bags reported stolen, 34 were recovered at or near the scene of the arrests; two bags were recovered by the EHVPD in the parking lot from which the Durango fled, Tierney said.

There are a dozen bags still unaccounted for, Tierney said.

According to representatives from the Balenciaga store, the value of the 48 stolen handbags is
about $94,000, Tierney said.

In addition, at the time of arrests, a bag containing 20 blue pills and eight partial blue pills was
recovered from the defendants’ vehicle and a lab test confirmed the pills consisted of misdemeanor weight methamphetamine, Tierney said.

Suffolk County Court Judge Anthony Senft ordered Harris be placed on supervised release with GPS conditions; Johns and Davis were held on $75,000 cash bond/$150,000 bond or $750,000 partially secured bond, Tierney said. Rogers did not show up to the arraignment and a warrant was issued for his arrest, Tierney said.

Davis and Harris are due back in Riverhead Court on March 23; Rogers is due back on March 25, Tierney said.

“The alleged acts by these defendants show a blatant disregard for the law that will not be tolerated in Suffolk County. In addition to entering Suffolk County for the purpose of stealing the property of others, their acts put lives at risk when they fled the crime scene and drove recklessly, at times nearly 100 miles per hour,” said Tierney.

“Thanks to quick action and coordination, Troop L Troopers and officers from the East Hampton
and Suffolk County police departments tracked the suspects and took them into custody without
incident, despite their reckless escape attempt,” said State Police Superintendent Kevin P.
Bruen.

“I want to thank the New York State Police, their K-9 unit and investigators, the Suffolk County
Police Department, including the 7th Precinct officers, their K-9 unit and Aviation unit, for the
coordinated multi-agency response that led to the apprehension of four of the five subjects,” said East Hampton Village Police Department Lt. Gregory J. Brown. “I’d also like to thank the Suffolk
County District Attorney’s office for prosecuting these individuals to the fullest extent — which sends the message that these types of crimes won’t be tolerated in Suffolk County.”