ST. JOHNS COUNTY, Fla. — According to the Florida Highway Patrol (FHP) and the St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office, shoplifters twice tried to get away with stolen merchandise from the St. Augustine Premium Outlets on Monday.
FHP released a dash camera video from Monday showing a red vehicle leading law enforcement on a high-speed chase.
Troopers said three suspects inside had stolen over $2,000 in clothing from the Ralph Lauren store at the outlets.
The red SUV is seen weaving through traffic on Interstate 95, heading into Jacksonville, and speeding along the shoulder to avoid crashing into other cars.
Troopers also released a video of the chase coming to an end with a pit maneuver.
Inside, law enforcement found and recovered the stolen clothing and returned it to the owner.
In a separate Monday incident, St. Johns deputies said a woman allegedly stole about $800 in purses from the Dooney & Burke store before deputies recovered the merchandise.
All suspects in both cases were arrested. Action News Jax showed the video to area shoppers.
“I’m just glad that law enforcement was able to catch these people and return the property to the rightful owners,” said St. Johns shopper, Vicki Miller.
Action News Jax got numbers on shoplifting incidents at the St. Augustine Premium Outlets from the St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office.
Records show 10 reported shoplifting incidents at the outlets in the first two weeks of December. There were 10 reported incidents at 2700 State Road in December 2019. There have been 58 shoplifting incidents in the year 2020.
The pandemic caused the outlets to close for months. If that didn’t happen, the numbers could have been higher.
In 2019, there were more than 80 shoplifting calls to the outlet address.
“I go there a lot actually. It’s just frustrating to hear that people keep doing this,” Miller said.
Action News Jax reached out by phone to the outlets’ parent company, Simon Properties, for comment on these numbers from deputies and will update you with its response.