IF ONLY THEY HAD TAKEN THE TAGS OFF
At about 2:32pm, on Tuesday, July 20, 2001, officers from Area A-7 (East Boston) were patrolling the area of Eagle Hill behind the Mobil Gas station when they observed a red sedan parked in the middle of the parking lot. Further, officers observed two people standing near the car looking at objects inside the vehicle. While approaching, officers observed the two nervously turn and walk away from the car even though the rear door was still open. Upon looking inside the car, officers observed, in plain view, approximately seven handbags with Macy\’s store tags and security lanyards still attached. At this point, officers separated the parties in an effort to find out who owned the bags.
When asked who owned the bags, one of the individuals stated, “They’re ours. We just bought them.” When asked where, one of the individuals stated, \”We just paid $20 per bag from some person on Meridian Street.” When asked to produce a receipt, no one could. When asked to explain why the security tags were still affixed to the bags, no one could.
As a result, officers arrested a 24 year-old female from East Boston and a 34 year-old male from Peabody and charged both with Receiving Stolen Property.
During the booking process, one of the suspects was heard saying, \”We never would’ve gotten caught if I had remembered to take all of the tags off.\”