SAN MATEO — Authorities on Thursday arrested four Bay Area residents on suspicion of stealing nearly $10,000 worth of clothing from a Lululemon store in San Mateo.
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The incident happened just before 2 p.m. at the Hillsdale Shopping Center, the San Mateo Police Department said in a news release. Witnesses told officers three people grabbed the clothing and ran out of the store to a waiting white Subaru Outback.
The Subaru then sped toward Highway 101, police said. Officers with a regional organized retail theft task force found the car traveling northbound on the freeway and followed it into San Francisco.
When officers tried to stop the car, the person behind the wheel raced away and drove recklessly, police said. Officers called off the chase out of concern for other drivers and pedestrians in the area.
The Subaru was later found abandoned, but all four occupants were located a short time later. Police said stolen merchandise was found in the car and with the suspects.
The car was also reported stolen earlier in the day, police said.
The suspects — identified as a 32-year-old San Francisco resident, a 31-year-old Antioch resident, a 30-year-old San Francisco resident and a 27-year-old San Francisco resident — were arrested and booked into San Mateo County jail on felony charges including organized retail theft, grand theft and second-degree burglary.
The 30-year-old San Francisco man was also booked on charges of taking a vehicle without the owner’s consent, possession of a stolen vehicle and reckless evading.