It took thieves about one hour to rob thousands in merchandise from three CVS stores in Chevy Chase and Bethesda, Maryland, Tuesday afternoon.
Montgomery County Police radio transmissions revealed how officers were quickly called from one store to another.
“Was there another theft at a CVS called in from Chevy Chase?” a dispatcher said.
“I just got one ... it’s on Chaplin Place,” another dispatch replied.
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At 1:15 p.m., four men in masks ran into a CVS on Arlington Road in Bethesda, swept up armloads of beauty products and fled. Witnesses described seeing the men put entire shelves of items into trash bags.
Ten minutes later, four men fitting the same description hit the CVS on Chaplin Street in the new Chevy Chase Lakes development.
About an hour after, at 2:25 p.m., they targeted the store in the 7200 block of Wisconsin Avenue in downtown Bethesda.
Several shoppers expressed dismay. Most said they have seen similar stories about organized theft crimes in the D.C. area and around the country.
“I actually talked to somebody who works here several weeks ago, who said that they were in a different store before where they did have mobs that would go through, and she said that, you know, she was excited to be able to be in a new location,” a shopper said.
“It’s really upsetting to see that, you know, that nothing can really be done, or nothing's being done,” another shopper said.
The stores' employees were able to restock the shelves, but there were still gaps where the items had been. The targeted stores said they already lock up some of their most-stolen items behind plexiglass.
