A second person accused of stealing $94,000 worth of handbags from a high-end retail store in East Hampton Village has pleaded guilty to grand larceny, the Suffolk County District Attorney's office announced on Friday.
Wazir Rodgers, 25, was one of five people who raided Balenciaga on March 3 before fleeing in a Dodge Durango. A witness who worked across the street told police that the getaway truck had tinted windows and lacked license plates.
The five suspects were caught on surveillance camera as they robbed the store. At approximately 1:30 p.m. that day, one of them, as as-yet unidentified woman, entered the store and walked around looking at handbags, talking on a cellphone as she went.
"After a short time, she asked a store employee to check if they had a shoe in a particular size," the district attorney's office said. ". . . When the employee attempted to retrieve the shoes for her, Rodgers, [Ali] Harris, [Baseemah] Davis, and [Jamal] Johns rushed into the store and hurriedly began taking luxury handbags from the shelves."
Some of the stolen handbags fell from the suspects' grasp as they leapt into the truck and sped away. Village police followed for a short time before cutting off their pursuit out of concern for the safety of other drivers.
State troopers had taken up the chase by the time the Durango got a flat tire near Exit 69 on the Long Island Expressway. Four of the five suspects were caught, including Mr. Rodgers, who was tracked down and caught in a wooded area, where he had fled.
In his announcement, District Attorney Ray Tierney called the midday heist "a brazen crime that they thought they could get away with."
"I cannot emphasize this enough," he said. "Organized retail theft in Suffolk County will not be tolerated. If you attempt to steal property that does not belong to you, we will catch you and send you to prison."
Mr. Davis, 34, pleaded guilty on Tuesday to the same charges Mr. Rodgers confessed to on Friday: second-degree grand larceny and second-degree criminal possession of stolen property, both felonies, and seventh-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance, a misdemeanor.
The felony charges carry penalties of one to three years in prison if a defendant has no prior felony convictions, or five to 15 years if there are priors. Justice Anthony Senft of Suffolk Criminal Court will read Mr. Rodgers his sentence on Sept. 19. Charges are still pending for Mr. Johns, 26, who is due in court on Sept. 23. Mr. Harris, 28, was also to have appeared in court Friday; the D.A.'s office has not yet released information about him.
All four suspects identified thus far are from Newark, N.J. The fifth, a woman, remains at large in the ongoing investigation.
