Suspected flash mob rips off Upper Darby Sears

delcotimes ^

[traumer]

UPPER DARBY — A mob of about 40 people stormed into the Sears department store on 69th Street Thursday, and in a flash stole thousands of dollars worth of merchandise, officials said.

Police were able to round up 15 juveniles and one adult, 19, all from West Philadelphia.

“They came in on the El train and hit Sears,” police Superintendent Michael Chitwood said. “They stole sneakers, socks, watches, whatever they could get their hands on, and left.

“Imagine the guts of this gang of young hoodlums. One was 11 years old. The others arrested ranged from 12 to 16 years old. They planned this out earlier in the day on a social networking site. It was pre-planned. They got on the El, got off at 69th Street Terminal and walked up the hill to Sears.”

Kyree Marsh, 19, of the 5500 block of Spruce Street, Philadelphia, was arrested and charged with retail theft, conspiracy to retail theft and corruption of minors.

Police recovered some of the stolen sneakers and socks that were in the backpack of one of the individuals arrested and in the pockets of others taken into custody.

According to the affidavit, the Sears loss-prevention officer saw the mob enter the store at 7:09 p.m. on Thursday.

The group then began taking merchandise off the shelves.

[Truth29]

I'm beginning to think that stores need lock down zones where barriers rise or fall to seal off various parts of the store until police arrive.

[dfwgator]

It will solve the problem on its own, when businesses stop setting up shop within easy access of black neighbourhoods. The black youths might be getting a kick out of doing this stuff now, but they may not find it so funny when they have to bus it 2 hours one way to buy some bread or eggs or their favourite gold chains.

Neither will the residents who live in those places where the store are.

[dfwgator]

It will solve the problem on its own, when businesses stop setting up shop within easy access of black neighbourhoods. The black youths might be getting a kick out of doing this stuff now, but they may not find it so funny when they have to bus it 2 hours one way to buy some bread or eggs or their favourite gold chains.

Neither will the residents who live in those places where the store are.

[jackibutterfly]

"This is going to get worse, once kids realize that many don’t get caught and their isn’t anything anyone can do while it’s happening."

Not true. IF these stores can afford these losses, then they can afford to put security measures in place, like locking down the store while these hoodlums go about their "business", which means they'd have to put in smash-proof glass so these feral animals can't get out - that should hold them until the police arrive.

[houeto]

The first “better” in the third sentence of the preceding post should read “find.”

I was hoping so. ;-)

[Hammerhead]

Once again, another post without the city and state in the title.

Like everyone knows where the ‘delcotimes’ or upper Darby is located withouth have to get halfway through the article.

[thethirddegree]

This is exactly why I purchased several 30 round mags for my .223—against the day when this hits suburban neighborhoods.

[Dr. Bogus Pachysandra]

“they’d have to put in smash-proof glass so these feral animals can’t get out “

Employees would need a safe space, so they couldn’t be attacked.

[maine yankee]

At what cost ?

You lock them in , they do more damage than if let go.

You put your employees in a very unsafe place with no defence.

And the courts will not punish them.

Close the store and relocate.

[Bob]

...like locking down the store while these hoodlums go about their "business", which means they'd have to put in smash-proof glass so these feral animals can't get out - that should hold them until the police arrive.

Unfortunately, doing that would also lock down any employees who were in the store at the time. I have to wonder if that's such a good idea. Some method would need to be devised to keep the store's employees from coming to harm.

[eyedigress]

I got 6 of’ em. Obama’s world is coming soon to a neighborhood near you.

[Eternal_Bear]

the usual democrats?

[yefragetuwrabrumuy]

Notice how much of this foolishness is now limited to Illinois, with its profligate gun control laws.

Imagine if such a group tried a stunt like this in Arizona? There would be a whole lot of dead and injured mobsters.

[Jonty30]

To be willing to travel on the bus for two hours to get to these places takes a certain level of ambition.

Nothing absolute, but if these youth had ambition, they’d be accomplishing things with their lives.

[MsLady]

This is how I handled my learning disabled child. She was fery difficult to handle. I was taught by a child behaviorist to do an over kill. Example: she threw soda all over my kitchen floor in a rage. So I took her by the hand, put a rag in her hand, and while my hand was on hers made her clean up the floor. My kitchen floor was pretty small area. Maybe 4ft by 12 ft? I'm not to good with size, small anyway. Together we scrubbed that floor for about half an hour, she was probably 6 at the time. When we finished, she never did anything like that again. She would on purpose pee her pants if you put her time out. So, we would scrub the chair for about 20 minutes. She learned pretty quickly.

With these kids, I'd make them work for free for the city or a business. One hour for every dollar stolen. If they are going to school, to bad, they can spend their weekends working. I don't care if they are 11 years old. Give the parents a choice, either make their kids do this and do a good job, or lose some of their welfare until it's paid for. If they don't have enough food stamps, to bad. Give them some government cheese and peanut butter.

[secondamendmentkid]

“Not true. IF these stores can afford these losses, then they can afford to put security measures in place, like locking down the store while these hoodlums go about their “business”, which means they’d have to put in smash-proof glass so these feral animals can’t get out - that should hold them until the police arrive.”

Unless I am mistaken, I don’t believe they can be prosecuted for shoplifting until they physically leave the store. It’s time to resurrect “We reserve the right to refuse service to anyone.” Loss control at the door - we have “security” issues in our store; you are not allowed in at this time - when they come in a pack.

Unfortunately, that will force the price of your goods up again.

[SoCal Pubbie]

Is Philadelphia in Illinois now?

[knarf]

Those crazy Amish yoots again ... sheesh.

[AEMILIUS PAULUS]

This type of “action” seems to be a real trend. Interestingly, it seems confined mainly in the area from the East coast as far west as Illinois. I’m aware of only one incident out in the far west i.e. Las Vegas. Has anyone heard of any other incidents out in the west?

[Dilbert San Diego]

Some black leaders, such as Jesse Jackson, have lamented that major retailers and major chain supermarkets avoid mostly minority areas.

Michelle Obama talked about this also. She said that there are “food deserts” in cities which don’t have chain supermarkets, only liquor stores or convenience stores which sell junk food only.

I heard that the entire city of Detroit has only 8 supermarkets left in the entire city.

It may be unfortunate in some ways, but, businesses have decided that it’s not worth the extra problems and costs of doing business to locate in these inner city areas.

If the flash mobs keep it up, we’ll all have to travel farther out from the city to do our shopping. You may well see retailers and supermarkets near public transportation, such as this Sears store, decide to close down rather than deal with the ongoing hassles of doing business in such places.