Suspected shoplifting ring busted in Palo Alto with $50K worth of stolen Lululemon clothes

PALO ALTO (KPIX/CBS SF) — A ring of shoplifters is behind bars after police caught them at a Palo Alto shopping center with thousands of dollars of expensive athletic wear.

Palo Alto police arrested four suspects accused of stealing $50,000 worth of clothes from Lululemon stores.

Around 6:02 on Sunday, a employee at the Lululemon store in the Stanford Shopping Center located at 180 El Camino Real, spotted the shoplifting-in-progress and called police. When police arrived, they located the suspects matching the employee’s description and recovered 100 pairs of leggings valued at $12,000. 

Later, police found garbage bags in the suspects’ car containing some 300 items stolen from Lululemon stores in Burlingame and San Mateo and valued at $38,000.

The suspects were identified as 18-year-old Ionut Grafi Dumitru and 22-year-old Elvira Fistogeanu of Sacramento, and 20-year-old Florentina Izabela Matei of Carmichael. A 16-year-old female from Sacramento booked into the to the Santa Clara County Juvenile Hall. All four have been charged with felony organized retail theft, felony possession of stolen property, and felony conspiracy.

A fifth male suspect remains at large. Police were asking anyone with information leading to his arrest to call Palo Alto Police Department’s 24-hour dispatch center at (650) 329-2413.

Lululemon Athletica is a luxury sportswear brand based in Canada, with 71 stores in California.