The Montgomery Township Police Department has announced the arrest of two Philadelphia men, who are believed to be a part of a large-scale retail theft ring.
According to the criminal complaint, police were dispatched for a report of a theft in progress at Target on Feb. 23. Upon arrival, police spoke with the store’s loss prevention officer, who stated that a theft of nearly $1,600 in merchandise had occurred the night before, and the suspect involved was currently in the store on a return visit. When the suspect attempted to leave the store with a cart full of merchandise for the second time in two days, he encountered police at the exit, abandoned the merchandise and fled on foot, the report states.
After a brief foot pursuit, the suspect surrendered, according to the report. He was later identified as 34-year-old Theus Sims, of Philadelphia. Additionally, the driver of the getaway vehicle—identified as 57-year-old Lynn Presley, of Philadelphia—was also taken into custody.
The report states that a search of Sims uncovered a tourniquet shoelace, a lighter, a crack pipe and one capped hypodermic needle. It adds that Presley repeatedly told police that he was not involved in the theft, and that Sims had paid him to drive.
Police observed a variety of stolen merchandise in plain view in the vehicle, and were also able to recover the contents of the shopping cart used in the second theft attempt, the report states.. Among the items were nine bottles of detergent, 19 Downy Unstoppable products, three watches, four socks, one jacket, one air fryer and one ninja blender. The total value of stolen merchandise across both attempts was listed as $2,480.71, according to the report.
As a result of the incident, Sims has been charged with felony counts of retail theft and receiving stolen property, as well as a misdemeanor charge of possession of drug paraphernalia. Presley was charged with misdemeanor counts of retail theft and receiving stolen property.
Both men were arraigned by Magisterial District Judge James Gallagher on Feb. 24, who set bail at 10 percent of $2,500. They were both initially remanded to the Montgomery County Correctional Facility, but were bailed out a few days later.
Their preliminary hearing is scheduled for March 14 at 10:30 a.m. in front of Magisterial District Judge Andrea Duffy.
(Editor's note: All suspects and defendants are innocent until proven guilty. Should the defendant choose to issue a public statement, or is later found not guilty or has the charges dropped, we will update this article accordingly.)
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