There are just ten days to go until Christmas and the stores have been bustling, but not everyone has been buying.
That’s right, it’s the high season for shoppers, but it’s also the busy time for shoplifters. And where better to do it than a boutique? That’s one place where almost all the products have to be out on the shelves for shoppers to examine closely.
And that’s just what some lady shoplifters exploited at the Ooh-La-La Boutique – except they didn’t know they were being caught on camera.
You won’t believe how they did it! Here’s the story.
Jacqueline Godwin, Reporting
The Ooh La La Boutique on Central American Boulevard has been repeatedly hit by shoplifters. The good news is that all three incidents between November twenty ninth and December thirteenth have been caught on camera.
The suspects are all Belizean women who have been targeting the store in the late morning hours. On this occasion, the surveillance camera picked up these two women standing casually by the slipper stand. But watch carefully to see what happens next. The woman takes a quick glance before….
You would think that after stuffing a pair of slippers under her dress, the woman would have some difficulty walking with it tucked between her legs, but it was business as usual as she and her companion proceeded to the clothing area …and once again quickly moved into action.
Esther Bradley - Human Resource Manager, Advance Advertising Ideas
“I do not know if they get desperate but I really think it is unfair that they target especially boutiques because we look forward to the different seasons because that is our high season and then we have people coming in stealing and it does not matter how small it is it is stealing because it does not belong to them and we are really disappointed in them.”
“We were so shocked and appalled that we did not even expect someone would go so far to steal a slipper and it is the way they stole it.”
According to Advance Advertising Ideas Human Resource Manager Esther Bradley, equally disturbing is that despite the proof in hand the police seem to be dragging their feet.
Esther Bradley - Human Resource Manager, Advance Advertising Ideas
“What shocked us mostly is that when we reported the incident to the police really did not take it as something major because they say the items were very small but being that it is from our business we thought that to us it was a big deal. And it’s been three weeks that more or less the same person is coming back to the store and the police still have not being doing anything about it.”
“And it looks like she has been spreading the word as well. Well it looks so because we are getting different people coming ion and it is not only here at Ooh La La, it is also at the other store.”
Jacqueline Godwin, 7News
“I understand in one incident alone police recovered 7 items? This must be affecting the business somewhat.”
Esther Bradley - Human Resource Manager, Advance Advertising Ideas
“Yes it’s been, because first it was slippers but now they went even further to get even clothing items so it is really getting out of hand and we would really hope that the police would do something about it instead of just taking it as a very small incident because they need to realize that it does not matter how small it is, it is affecting our business.”
The store has taken some measures to increase security
Esther Bradley - Human Resource Manager, Advance Advertising Ideas
“We hired two persons to do the security but its different shifts and we are trying to get the pictures off the video cameras, we are also trying to install more cameras into the boutique to get all. you know, all the basic part of the boutique so wherever they go they are on cameras. And we are implementing other stuff like security tags on the clothing so if they take it out, they will beep. So we are trying our best to hopefully this will work because we have tried so many other things and they still come in.”
7News understands that two of the women shown in the video were arrested after they were caught trying to sell the hot items on the street.
But shoplifting isn’t the only problem plaguing Advanced Advertising Ideas. On Thursday the company was hit hard when someone robbed one of the supervisors and got off with a significant amount of money.
According to the police, 33 year old Cennie Muschamp, who works at the Tourism Village, was leaving her workplace but as she walked up to her car which was parked across from the Harbour View Restaurant, she was approached by a lone gunman. According to Esther Bradley, they believe it was an inside job.
Esther Bradley - Human Resource Manager, Advance Advertising Ideas
“Because it is the first time that we even had the supervisor bringing the money back to us. We usually have someone who goes and picks up the cash and that person was unavailable yesterday, so when that happened to us we said that they must have had a tip or something and we are really looking into it and doing all the investigation that we can.”
“They robbed her at gun point holding the gun to her chest stating, ‘If you no give me the money, I will shot you dead.” That really have us shook up, the entire staff because even herself is scare to go back to the business place and we are so worried right now because we do not know who took it.”
“We are still waiting for the police to get back to us to see if they have a suspect but we hope that if they do catch the person that they are charged tot eh fullest and that they do spend time for what they did.”
Besides the proceeds from the day’s sales, the robber also took the supervisor’s cell phone and purse that contained visa card slips and her social security card.
