Police Arrest Organized Retail Theft Suspects

Published on February 11, 2022

Palo Alto, CA – A prompt call from a merchant at Stanford Shopping Center of a shoplifting in progress led to the arrest of two organized retail theft suspects from Southern California.  Police recovered more than $18,000 worth of suspected stolen property from multiple retailers.  Police booked the suspects into jail.

On Thursday, February 10, 2022, at about 6:43 p.m., our 24-hour dispatch center received a call reporting an in-progress shoplifting at Victoria’s Secret at Stanford Shopping Center at 180 El Camino Real.  The reporting party, a store employee, reported that a male suspect was stuffing merchandise down his pants to conceal it while appear to shop with a female accomplice.  As officers responded, the suspects left the store without paying for the items and went to their vehicle in the parking lot while the employee followed.  Officers detained the suspects without incident inside their 2021 Ford Explorer, a rental car.

The investigation revealed that the male suspect shoplifted more than $500 worth of bras from Victoria’s Secret.  In their car, officers located several trash bags filled with suspected stolen property.  In total, there were almost 400 separate pieces of brand new clothing in an array of sizes from Express, Hollister, and J. Crew totaling over $18,000.  The investigation into when and where the suspected thefts from those other stores occurred is still ongoing, but police have confirmed that some of it was stolen from a Victoria’s Secret in Fresno on February 8. Officers also located burglary tools frequently used to commit shoplifts inside the vehicle.

Police booked 59-year-old Jose Moises Mujica of Van Nuys and 62-year-old Remedios Reyes of North Hollywood into the Santa Clara County Main Jail for felony organized retail theft, felony possession of stolen property, and misdemeanor possession of burglary tools.  Their booking photos are attached to this release.

Anyone with information about this incident is asked to call our 24-hour dispatch center at (650) 329-2413.  Anonymous tips can be e-mailed to paloalto@tipnow.org or sent via text message or voice mail to (650) 383-8984.