Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

Four alleged shoplifters who took 100 pairs of leggings valued at more than $12,000 from the lululemon store at Stanford Shopping Center in Palo Alto were arrested on July 17, 2022. They allegedly took $38,000 of lululemon items from other stores earlier in the day. Embarcadero Media file photo.

Four people who allegedly stole about $50,000 worth of merchandise in a shoplifting spree that spanned three lululemon stores on the Peninsula were arrested at Stanford Shopping Center on Sunday. A fifth person is still at large, police said.

Police dispatch received a call around 6 p.m. on Sunday from the retailer lululemon reporting an in-progress theft at the Stanford Shopping Center store at 180 El Camino Real, police said in a press release. Officers arrived and detained four people, police said. Police said they recovered 100 pairs of leggings valued at over $12,000.

The man seen in this surveillance image is wanted for allegedly shoplifting from the lululemon store at Stanford Shopping Center in Palo Alto on July 17, 2022. Courtesy Palo Alto Police Department.

According to police, four people entered the store along with a fifth person, whom police were not aware of until a further investigation.

Officers located the suspects’ vehicle, a blue 2007 Hyundai Entourage, in the parking lot, along with several bags full of items. The bags in the minivan contained 300 items valued at $38,000 that had been stolen earlier in the day from other lululemon stores in Burlingame and San Mateo.

Two Sacramento residents, an 18-year-old man and a 22-year-old man, and a 20-year-old Carmichael woman were arrested on suspicion of felony organized retail theft, felony possession of stolen property, and felony conspiracy.

The fourth person is a 16-year-old girl who was booked into juvenile hall on suspicion of the same offenses.

Anyone with any information about the case, including the identity of the fifth suspect, is asked to call the Palo Alto 24-hour dispatch center at 650-329-2413. Anonymous tips can be emailed to paloalto@tipnow.org.

Editor’s note: Palo Alto Online’s policy is to withhold the names of those arrested for most crimes until the district attorney has determined there is sufficient evidence to file charges in the case. Read our guidelines.

Join the Conversation

7 Comments

  1. Great response from the Palo Alto police. Please note that these are felony thefts. The $950 limit for felonies rarely apply to these massive thefts often associated with organized crime.

  2. Luckily the thieves were caught. Otherwise, they might have sold these tights to really fat people, and we would have faced an occular catastrophe!

  3. Most of these stolen goods are sold online via eBay and through independent sellers via Amazon.

    @John Donnegan…
    Concurring…like mini-skirts & bikinis, some folks don’t look good in them.

  4. Good job PAPD. I can’t imagine how fearful it is to be an employee when thieves take over your store.

    Stop fat-shaming people, to the above posters — if you want to shame people, find out when the court is prosecuting (if you have the time) and shame the thieves not the buyers.

    It is always said to try to buy 2nd hand, but I just can’t thinking of shoplifters and how many stuff items into their garments..and into their cars.

  5. I am also glad that the thieves were caught, but the gratuitous swipes at fat people were juvenile, unnecessary, and entirely irrelevant to the story.

  6. Two days after the crimes were committed, local cops want help identifying the unknown suspect. Maybe if they broadcast their scanner scratch, people might be interested enough to look out their window to see if they notice anything. Me? I hear nothing, so I don’t see anything.

  7. Marie is mistaken. There is a new law relevant to organized thefts such as these being charged as felonies.

    It’s also pretty obvious what type of organized theft ring this is.

Leave a comment