Placer County Sheriff’s Deputy Christian Jabri recognized the silver SUV Lexus he pulled over earlier this month outside Tahoe City, California. It matched the description of a car driven by two suspected serial shoplifters.
Surveillance video linked the Lexus and the two women inside to a string of high-priced thefts from a ski shop near Palisades Tahoe, a Lake Tahoe ski resort.
Jabri arrested Tatyana Zhukovsky and Clara Michelson, both 68 and from the San Francisco Bay area, on suspicion of shoplifting from Parallel Mountain Sports in Olympic Valley.
Police said security cameras showed the women stealing more than $1,500 in merchandise from the gear and clothing retailer on July 22, Aug. 19 and Nov. 25.
Zhukovsky and Michelson were booked Dec. 2 into the Auburn jail and charged with grand theft and conspiracy to commit a crime. They have since been released.
Both women had no comment when contacted Monday by the Reno Gazette Journal.
According to the Placer County Sheriff’s Office, the women are from San Francisco and Hillsborough, a Bay Area community that is one of the wealthiest in the U.S. with a median home price over $7 million.