Thieves striking Stop & Shop stores; lead cops on chase
STAMFORD — City police say on Thursday afternoon they had to break off a chase with two men who they say are members of a shoplifting gang called the Little Rascals who have been sneaking into businesses around the metropolitan area for months and swiping expensive health and beauty products off store shelves.
Police on Thursday afternoon recovered nearly $2,000 worth of merchandise in one bag that one of the suspects dropped outside of the Ridgeway Stop & Shop before running away and leading police on a short chase.
Although he active gang is responsible for dozens of shoplifting thefts costing area stores about $50,000 worth of inventory, Thursday’s incident the was first time any police department came close to catching them, Capt. Diedrich Hohn said.
“No police have actually confronted them,” Hohn said. “We were the first. They come in fast and leave fast. With this incident I’m glad no one got hurt and hopefully this will act as a deterrent and they won’t come back to Stamford.”
Hohn said this was the second raid in a week by the gang of audacious thieves. Last Friday, June 19, two gang members boosted about $900 worth of products from the Stop & Shop on West Main Street.
On Thursday police were notified the gang was striking again at the Ridgeway Stop & Shop. And when officer Silas Redd confronted the thief outside the store he dropped an expensive bag of stolen products and ran out of the parking lot towards Wells Fargo on Sixth Street.
Officer Willie Guilford was there next to the bank and gave chase when the suspect doubled back to the grocery store and hopped into a waiting black Kia with New York license plates.
The Kia fled out the shopping center on Sixth Street before making a right
“No police have actually confronted them. We were the first. They come in fast and leave fast. With this incident I’m glad no one got hurt and hopefully this will act as a deterrent and they won’t come back to Stamford.”
Stamford Police Capt. Diedrich Hohn
turn on Bedford Street, going the wrong way.
Almost as soon as the chase started it was terminated because it was too dangerous but patrol cars kept an eye on the vehicle.
The Kia ended up on Strawberry Hill Avenue before going back to Bedford and continued going the wrong way while trying to make its way to Interstate 95. At the end of Bedford, the Kia ran over a roadway median but kept heading south and was not seen again.
Hohn said a week ago Friday the two gang members found inside Stop & Shop were confronted by a store employee, but one of the men indicated to the employee that he had a knife and the two were allowed to leave the store. They were picked up by a waiting driver in a car with out of state plates.
Hohn said since February the gang has hit Stop & Shop stores in Westchester County, Orange County, Ulster County and have even raided a store in Norwalk and Ansonia.
“They are looking for high end products like Nexium or Rogaine and they will go in there and clean out a whole aisle,” he said.
Hohn said police are trying to track down the suspects