For the second time in less than a month, thieves entered the Apple Store at the Westfield Valencia Town Center mall, stealing merchandise and then fleeing.
The latest incident happened shortly after 11:30 a.m. Wednesday.
Deputies with the Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station responded to the Apple Store in response to reports a theft had occurred there, Sgt. Mike Porkony said.
“A call went out at 11:34 a.m. for grand theft from the Apple Store,” said Shirley Miller, spokeswoman for the SCV Sheriff’s Station.
“Four male blacks went into the Apple Store and grabbed MacBook Air computers,” she said.
“The suspects then got into a vehicle driven by a female,” Miller said, describing the vehicle as an older model white Lexus.
Deputies at 11:50 a.m. were pursuing the suspects north on Interstate 5, she said.
Within 10 minutes of the pursuit, as deputies pursued the car on I-5 near Pyramid Lake, the pursuit was called off due to unsafe speeds, Miller said.
The incident is strikingly similar to a grand theft that happened last month.
On July 16, three suspects entered the Apple store at the Westfield Valencia Town Center mall, snipped the security cords attached to laptops on display and then dashed out of the store to a waiting car.
Deputies looked for four suspects who stole between 10-15 laptops and then made their getaway in a white, possibly 2018, Ultima, said Lt. Doug Mohrhoff of the SCV Sheriff’s Station.
Three thieves, each described as male, black, in their mid- to late-teens, each wearing a hoodie, entered the store on Valencia Boulevard, Mohrhoff said at the time. A fourth suspect was seen driving the getaway car, according to witnesses.
“They ran into the store and took several laptops after popping them off the security cables,” Mohrhoff said in July.
In both incidents, there was no violence, no weapons and no one was hurt.
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