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Suspect, 18, charged in D.C. robbery of Chanel handbags worth $116,000

D.C. police arrested Romello Christopher Marquez, an 18-year-old high school student, alleging he stole handbags from a Chanel store in CityCenterDC in December.

By Peter Hermann | 2024-03-21

An image from surveillance video shows the December robbery of a Chanel store in D.C. (D.C. police)

On an early evening a week before Christmas, several thieves -- all young, it seemed, and clad in masks and dark clothing -- hopped from a white sedan outside a D.C. designer-label store. Hurrying inside, they went right to work, frantically stealing by the armload.

Perhaps their plan involved temporarily blinding a guard in the store with a blast from a fire extinguisher, because that's what happened. The crew members ran chaotically in the place, a Chanel store downtown, snatching merchandise, including a dozen handbags, police said. Then, they were out the door and gone.

And these weren't any old bags. Total value, according to police: $116,180. Or an average of $9,681.67 per genuine Chanel bag.

Police on Wednesday arrested an 18-year-old D.C. high school student and charged him with taking part in the Dec. 17 blitzkrieg of the Chanel store at CityCenterDC, a luxury shopping area near the Penn Quarter neighborhood. Four other people are still being sought, police said.

The young man arrested was identified as Romello Christopher Marquez of Northeast Washington. According to an affidavit filed in court to obtain an arrest warrant, Marquez attended the Maya Angelou Public Charter School as recently as Jan. 31.

He was charged with attempted armed robbery. A D.C. Superior Court judge on Wednesday ordered him detained and set another hearing for Friday. Attempts to reach his attorney were not successful.

The robbery occurred about 5:30 p.m. in the 900 block of I Street NW. Surveillance video provided by D.C. police shows the culprits getting out of a white sedan in pouring rain and hustling toward the store.

A security guard told police he tried to close the door as the crew approached. Police said three of the five people pushed their way inside. The video shows crew members dashing through aisles lined with glass shelves and cases, helping themselves to pricey goods displayed just so.

One person can be seen grabbing a half-dozen purses as another shoots the fire extinguisher around the store, filling the air with a gray haze. The affidavit says the robber with the extinguisher aimed several gusts at a security guard, impairing his vision.

In the affidavit, police said a man later identified as Marquez took off his gloves and mask and tried to blend in with customers after dropping a pile of purses on the floor. As the thieves fled, an armed guard fired a shot that hit no one, according to police.

An anonymous tipster who watched the publicly released security video identified two people by their nicknames, police said, one of whom turned out to be Marquez.

The nicknames: "Lil Mike" and "Microwave."


This article was downloaded by calibre from https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2024/03/21/chanel-robbery-police-dc/


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