A man and woman worked a card-decline distraction scheme to steal merchandise from a Murdoch’s in Littleton and a Walgreens in Highlands Ranch, according to investigators, who are now asking the public to help identify the pair. The Douglas County Sheriff’s Office says the male suspect’s card was declined at checkout, prompting him to stall the cashier while his female accomplice quietly carried the goods out to a waiting car.
According to a Douglas County Sheriff’s Office Facebook post titled “Scanned, bagged, and stolen. Help us ID this duo,” the pair selected merchandise and brought it to the cashier together before splitting up. The male suspect stayed behind at the register and told the cashier he needed to get another card from the female suspect, buying time as she carried the merchandise out to the car. Deputies say the man never returned to pay, and the pair drove off together with the stolen goods.
Investigators describe the male suspect as Hispanic, about 5 feet 9 inches tall, with a thin build. He was wearing a hat, a black polo shirt, and jeans. The female suspect is also described as Hispanic, roughly 5 feet 7 inches tall, with a medium build and medium-length brown hair. Deputies say the suspects fled in a red four-door sedan that may be a Volkswagen Jetta, though that identification has not been confirmed.
A Familiar Pattern Along the C-470 Corridor
This is not the first time this summer that Douglas County deputies have turned to the public for help chasing down retail theft suspects moving between commercial hubs. Earlier in August, deputies arrested two people who fled a Highlands Ranch Target in a truck towing a camper trailer, crashing on C-470 before trying to run on foot — an incident that ended in charges including vehicular eluding, obstructing an officer, and theft, as previously reported by Hoodline. Around the same time, the sheriff’s office sought help identifying a suspect accused of hitting two King Soopers stores in Highlands Ranch and Castle Pines across three separate visits between May and June, allegedly making off with hundreds of dollars in groceries…