ORLANDO, Fla. — Thieves stole hundreds of pairs of underwear from Victoria's Secret at the Fashion Square Mall. As strange as it sounds, it wasn't the first time that kind of crime has happened in Central Florida.
In cases like this, crooks usually resell it on the black market, WFTV learned, and investigators believe more than one person might have been involved.
Whoever it was went into the store around 5:30pm Tuesday, which was the first day of a big sale that attracted a lot of customers. They got away with 340 pieces of underwear worth $8,000.
Orlando Morales and his girlfriend bought some body splashes there Wednesday and couldn't understand how someone could have pulled that off.
"It surprises me, because how could they not have seen it?" Morales said.
Store employees are asking themselves the same question. They have changed the displays around so that all aisles are in clear view and trying to keep a closer watch on the customers, especially the ones who are carrying big empty shopping bags. That's how they think someone was able to steal so much merchandise in the middle of the day.
One year ago, a man stole more than $2,000 worth of underwear from the Victoria's Secret store in the Oviedo Marketplace. He had a special bag, which evaded the sensors on the merchandise.
But the Orlando police report shows there were no such sensors on the merchandise at the Orlando store and there aren't any security cameras in the store either. Police are checking with the mall management on their security measures.
"We'll have to see if there is any kind of mall security that might help us to identify who was involved," said Sgt. Barbara Jones, Orlando police spokeswoman.
A store worker told WFTV Wednesday that thieves have been taking the merchandise out of the country to sell on the black market. The police say they often try to pass off the authentic merchandise as knock-offs to explain the cheap prices when really they are stolen items.
WFTV
