Multi-county crime spree? 3 women accused of stuffing baseball bats worth thousands up their skirts arrested in Asheville

WNCT ^ | 6/25/24 | Ciara Lankford, Savannah Rudicel

[Libloather]

ASHEVILLE, N.C. (QUEEN CITY NEWS) – Huntersville Police and Concord Police said they are still investigating the cases and can’t yet say if the women arrested in Asheville are connected to a string of baseball bat thefts in the Charlotte area.

According to the Asheville Police Department, the women were apprehended after a recent theft at D-BAT located in the 1200 block of Hendersonville Road around 2:23 p.m. Sunday.

Officers said the three women tried to run away from the scene but were held by staff. All three, Veronica Constantin, 41, Alexandra Lonescu, 31, and Jennifer Antonesco, 21, have been charged.

Ryan Query, general manager of D-Bat Concord, believes it is the same group that targeted his store in early June.

He said players and families were talking to him all day Monday about the arrests.

**SNIP**

Co-founder Kyle Griffis said after hearing similar reports from a few of his franchise owners, they sent a warning to all 164 locations across the country.

He said the criminals were still able to distract front desk employees and while their cohorts smuggled the bats away into their skirts.

**SNIP**

“What police tell us they think they’re doing is they go to a store, one or two or three stores in a day, and they go to like a UPS store or something, and they ship all the product to one central location to be sold,” he said.

[Lazamataz]

The resale value has to decrease a lot. Who wants a fishy-smelling bat?

[kawhill]

Good wood ain’t cheap:

https://www.carolinaclubs.com/

[kawhill]

lol. I would prefer the smell of pine tar personally.

[Srednik]

These three (sadly) are Romanian ‘hotsi’ (thieves), ‘pungashi’ (bag-ladies), derbedei (hooligans).

[Menehune56]

Roma.

[CletusVanDamme]

Vlad Tepes knew how to handle them, as well as other miscreants.....

[A strike]

which side do they concentrate on?

[nwrep]

So you get 2 for $499?

[monkeyshine]

It’s been a while but are baseball bats really worth thousands? Boy that Bidenflation is really off the rails!

[null and void]

I refuse to ask exactly how these women managed to waltz out the store holding bats over 1 meter in length.

It's a Romanian thing, ask Vlad Țepeș...

[null and void]

Beat me by 15 minutes...

[FormerFRLurker]

How many baseball bats does a woman need to...never mind.

[desertsolitaire]

They probably tape the 2 feet or so of bat still visible to their thighs and wear long skirts. Hamada hamada.

[No name given]

That’s assuming they’re even biological women to begin with.

[Vigilanteman]

You owe me at least a gallon of keyboard and screen cleaner!

[Lazamataz]

They probably tape the 2 feet or so of bat still visible to their thighs and wear long skirts. Hamada hamada.

Probably.

But my scenario is far funnier. 😁

[one guy in new jersey]

$200 minimum per bat, modern aluminum alloy

[buckalfa]

Irish Gypsies from North Augusta SC?

[lee martell]

Do you have heritage from Romania or perhaps, Serbia?
I don’t think the average FR poster would know those words and phrases? I hear it’s a very complex language to learn.

[31R1O]

Makes me think of the Been Caught Stealing music video by Jane’s Addiction.

https://youtu.be/jrwjiO1MCVs?feature=shared