Two suspects, one wielding a six-inch pocket knife, robbed a Ross Dress for Less in West Los Angeles late Friday night before fleeing with stolen merchandise, authorities said. The pair walked into the store on the 8900 block of Venice Boulevard around 10:25 p.m. and were gone before officers arrived, though police reached the scene within five minutes.
According to MyNewsLA.com, the male suspect wore a ski mask along with a gray, brown and green flannel shirt, while the female suspect was dressed in a black hat and a black dress, according to LAPD. The two were armed with the pocket knife, per an LAPD spokesperson, and left the premises with stolen goods before officers could catch up to them. No injuries were reported, according to the outlet’s report.
A Familiar Address for Retail Crime
This is not the first time this exact Ross location has drawn police attention. In August 2023, two men stole merchandise from the same store in front of employees, an incident that led the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office to file organized retail theft and grand theft charges, according to CBS News. That earlier case helped prompt the LAPD’s Commercial Crimes Division to launch an Organized Retail Crime Task Force later that month, aimed specifically at coordinated retail hits and commercial robberies across the city.
The store sits inside the Ivy Station commercial complex near the border of West Los Angeles and Culver City, adjacent to the Metro E Line’s Culver City station, according to Patch. The transit-adjacent location places it along a stretch of Venice Boulevard that has seen other recent public safety incidents, including a hit-and-run involving a bicyclist earlier this month.
What Suspects Could Face Under State Law
Taking property from a business through force or fear is prosecuted in California as second-degree robbery under Penal Code sections 211 and 212.5, a felony carrying a state prison sentence of two, three, or five years, according to the Palmdale Criminal Defense Law Firm. Because the suspects allegedly used a knife during the robbery, they could also face a mandatory, consecutive one-year sentence enhancement under Penal Code section 12022(b)(1), which applies when someone personally uses a dangerous or deadly weapon while committing a felony, per the Shouse California Law Group…