Police charge one woman with a felony account of theft, as well as four misdemeanor charges
A call for a retail theft at the Lululemon store in Upper Dublin Township revealed a much more elaborate ring of Instagram-based conspiracies.
On Tuesday, Aug. 6, the Upper Dublin Township Police reported to the Lululemon store on Market Street for a report of a theft in progress. Store employees said that a woman in black clothing, and a female companion in a grey shirt were concealing merchandise while inside the store, police reports said.
A witness at the scene reported to police that the two women entered the store and “began gathering clothing,” then moving to the fitting rooms. According to reports, the ladies exited the changing rooms with less clothing than what they entered with, later noting that empty hangers and clothing tags were lying on the floor.
The two women were seen exiting the store, police said, without paying for any items. Police said they then entered a maroon Honda Civic vehicle, with a Pennsylvania registration reading “GILISSA.” As they left the lot, they were stopped by police, who said they saw numerous clothing items, with tags and censors still attached, across the backseat of the car.
Police reported that Garwood had was placed under arrest, at which time they found $304 worth of Lululemon clothing on her person, as well as a backpack. As Garwood consented to a search of her vehicle, according to police, officers found 25 clothing items from Lululemon with price tags and censors still attached. The value of the items totaled $2,345, per reports.
Police said that Garwood waived her rights and agreed to talk to police. She said that she had gotten the items off of “booster Instagram accounts,” except for one headband that she’d purchased at a Lululemon store in New Jersey, police reported. Garwood told police that the booster accounts were owned by various people that stole clothing items from various stores, and then sold them on these accounts.
Garwood told police, according to police reports, that she knew the items were stolen, and that she’d planned to return the stolen goods to a Lululemon store to receive money for them.
Garwood is charged with one felony count of receiving stolen property, as well as four misdemeanors, including retail theft by taking merchandise, conspiracy by retail theft to take merchandise, receiving stolen property, and conspiracy to receive stolen property.
Garwood is out on an unsecured bail by providing a bond signature for the $2,500 bail amount. She awaits a preliminary hearing on Aug. 16 before Magisterial District Judge Douglas H. Lavenberg at 10 a.m.
All suspects and defendants are innocent until proven guilty. This story was compiled using public court records.
