ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. – Thousands of dollars’ worth of merchandise was stolen last week from an outlet store in the St. Augustine area, according to the St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office.
About 5:15 p.m. Nov. 21, deputies said, two women went into the Michael Kors Outlet store on State Road 16 near Interstate 95 and picked up handbags, scarves and wallets totaling about $3,344.
According to deputies, they left the store about 5:20 p.m., passing all points of sale, and were then seen getting into what appeared to be a black Nissan Altima.
The Sheriff’s Office released surveillance images of the two on Monday and asked anyone who can identify them to email azurek@sjso.org.
ATTEMPT TO IDENTIFY: On November 21st, 2021, at approximately 5:15 PM, the pictured females entered the Michael Kors...
Posted by St. Johns County Sheriff's Office on Monday, November 29, 2021
It’s not the first time merchandise has been stolen from the St. Augustine-area outlets. News4JAX data shows high-end stores at the outlets have had more than $33,000 worth of merchandise stolen since 2018.
Shopper Skylar Palmer, who’s from St. Augustine, said she was not surprised by the latest theft.
“I feel like it’s pretty common, unfortunately,” Palmer said.
Steve Bodtke, who was visiting the St. Augustine area, also found the news disturbing — but not surprising.
“It’s unfortunate,” Bodtke said.
As far as security, the Sheriff’s Office told News4Jax that it typically increases patrol efforts for the holiday season in retail areas and that the outlets also hired additional off-duty law enforcement officers for Black Friday.