Davis CVS store hit twice in one day by thieves, as police see rise in organized theft
A CVS store in Davis was hit by thieves twice in one day, as police say organized retail thefts are becoming a “growing problem” in the area.
The Davis Police Department in a news release said officers first responded around 9 a.m. Thursday to a 911 call reporting a theft in progress at the CVS pharmacy on East Covell Boulevard.
“Two suspects entered the store with large bags, grabbed items off the shelf, and fled the area in a vehicle,” police wrote.
Officers located the vehicle, with stolen items inside, and arrested two suspects: 19-year-old Dorian Adams and 18-year-old Taveon Thompson, both of Antioch.
Deputy Chief Paul Doroshov told The Sacramento Bee that around 8:45 p.m. Thursday, a detective was at the CVS store gathering follow-up information.
“While he was there, inside, (three) suspects came in and started filling bags,” Doroshov said.
“He identified himself as a police officer, he grabbed one of them — they tussled, and unfortunately the suspect got away.”
Doroshov said all three suspects ran out of the store into a waiting getaway car, described as a Mercedes sedan driven by a fourth suspect, and escaped. No descriptions of the suspects were immediately available.
“They did drop their bags while running out of the store,” Doroshov said, so no property was lost.
The detective involved in the altercation received some minor scrapes, the deputy chief said.
Adams and Thompson, of the morning theft, were booked into the Monroe Detention Center in Woodland on charges of burglary, conspiracy and organized retail theft, the Police Department said. Thompson remains in custody while Adams has been released on bail, online booking records show.
A photo of the stolen items showed the suspects allegedly took mostly toiletries — a few dozen bars of soap, bottles of shampoo and lotion — as well as several bottles of vitamins.
Doroshov said his department and others in the region and across California appear to be seeing an uptick in organized theft.
“These thefts are different,” he said. “It’s not your person in need who goes and steals some food out of a grocery store. This is more of a money-maker, definitely, for the people involved. So we’re taking them seriously as far as investigations go.”
Doroshov said the Yolo County District Attorney’s Office is “aggressively” pursuing charges in these types of organized thefts, and that police hope this will be a deterrent.
This story was originally published December 10, 2021 at 9:47 AM.
