Women fill trash bags with $20,000 in cosmetics stolen from CVS, Florida police say
Two women were arrested after Florida police say they stole thousands of dollars worth of cosmetics.
An employee at a CVS in Port Orange spotted three women enter the store and begin stealing skincare and cosmetics products on Feb. 21, according to a Port Orange Police Department arrest affidavit obtained by McClatchy News. When police searched the women’s van, they found more than $20,000 worth of products, police said in Feb. 23 Facebook post.
The worker told police she saw the group stuffing the products into what appeared to be a “black skirt” one woman was wearing, according to the affidavit. The employee asked a coworker to call 911 while she walked over to them, took a CVS basket from them and demanded they remove the items from the skirt, police said.
One of the women then pushed the employee out of the way and they made their way to the exit, cops said. Then, one of them, who is unknown to the department, returned to the store to ask the worker if they could return the cosmetics if she didn’t call the police, the affidavit said.
The employee asked the woman to bring back the products, and she went inside with two filled baskets, police said.
But when she asked the CVS worker if she called the cops, the employee informed her that she did, police said. The women then left the store, and the employee followed her out, authorities said.
She saw the group leaving together on foot, and later saw two of the women — a 20-year-old and a 23-year-old — walking on a nearby street, police said. When officers arrived, she told them where she saw the two women walking and police stopped them, according to the affidavit.
While speaking to the officers, the employee also informed them that she saw more possibly stolen items in the women’s white van, according to police.
They searched inside the van, which revealed much more — hundreds of stolen cosmetic products in several other trash bags, according to the department. The value totaled more than $20,000, police said.
There were about 80 cosmetic and facial care products stolen from the CVS in Port Orange, police said. They included brands such as Neutrogena, Olay, L’Oreal, CeraVe, La Roche-Posay and Maybelline, according to the department.
Two women were charged with grand theft and booked at Volusia County Jail, according to jail records. They were held on a $2,500 bond, jail records show.
Police do not know where the third unknown woman went after leaving the store, according to the affidavit.
The two women who were arrested were named as suspects by the Ormond Beach Police Department in relation to a Feb. 8 case at a CVS and a Feb. 21 case at a Winn-Dixie, according to Port Orange police. The CVS employee also told officers that the corporate office informed her the women were involved in a “string of thefts,” according to the department.
Port Orange is about 5 miles south of Daytona Beach.
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