Police: Radio Shack Employees Staged Robberies, Took $55,000

Three Radio Shack employees allegedly took more than $55,000 in cash and merchandise from the store in Laurel, Maryland, authorities said.

Detectives investigating a robbery at the store in the 900 block of Washington Boulevard in June and another on Thursday noticed many similarities.

On Thursday, an employee told police a man entered the store and waited for customers to leave, authorities said. The employee said the man went into the back and turned off the electricity at the breaker panel before cutting out the store surveillance system, assaulting the employee, and stealing cash and mobile phones.

One of the stolen items had GPS, and police located it inside a vehicle they found on Laurel Bowie Road. The driver, 23-year-old David Jamaar Dean of Temple Hills, Maryland, was detained.

On June 25, $27,000 in merchandise and cash was taken from the same Radio Shack under similar circumstances. Police noticed the employee present at the time of each robbery was the same: 24-year-old Juan Abner Ramirez-Almodovar. Police also noted Dean was a former employee of the store.

Interviews with Dean and Ramirez-Almodovar revealed an elaborate scheme, police said. The men coordinated the staged robberies in advance, detectives said. They had help from a third employee of the store, 22-year-old Reginald Fletcher.

The missing store DVR system was found in a dumpster near the Radio Shack, and detectives were able to recover video of the incident. Detectives served a search warrant and recovered $28,000 in cash and mobile phones from Dean’s vehicle.