Photo by James Short.
Police recovered $5,700 worth of merchandise as the man fled the scene, police said
The Lululemon store, located at 1104 Market St., in Dresher, was the victim once again in a retail theft attempt which resulted in another several-thousand-dollar getaway, that is until Upper Dublin Township Police were able to intercede.
On Saturday, Sept. 21, around 2:49 p.m., police were dispatched to the retail location in the Promenade at Upper Dublin. Upon arrival, reports said, a store employee said that a Hispanic male, wearing a tan hooded sweatshirt, navy pants, and a yellow hat, left the store walking toward the Starbucks parking lot, entering a black BMW with no registration displayed.
Police said that the vehicle was seen fleeing toward Dreshertown Road, turning right to go north on Welsh Road. UDPD reported that they spotted the described vehicle at a red light at the intersection of Dreshertown and Welsh, as the vehicle was in the right-turn lane, attempting to go east on Welsh Road. According to reports, the vehicle’s license plate was “bent up, making it unreadable.”
A traffic stop was initiated, police said, and the store employee was brought to the area to identify the driver. Police reported the employe identified the man, Paul Henderson, 53, of the 500 block of East 149th St., in the Bronx, N.Y., as the one who’d stolen the merchandise.
According to reports, Henderson gave police the consent to search his BMW, and in doing so found multiple large duffel bags of Lululemon clothing in its trunk. The reports stated that around 45 items inside were valued at $5,700.
Inside the vehicle, police said they also identified Humberto Santiago, 42, also of the Bronx in New York, as a passenger. His clothing, according to reports, matched the description of the tan sweatshirt and navy pants. A yellow hat was also found inside the vehicle, police said.
Police said that Henderson had been a driver in prior retail theft getaways at the same store location in previous incidents, driving the same vehicle. Henderson is charged with felony counts of organized retail theft, retail theft by taking of merchandise, receiving stolen property, and summary accounts of owning obscured plates (illegible at a reasonable distance) for his BMW’s license plate.
Santiago is charged with felony counts of retail theft, retail theft by taking of merchandise, receiving stolen property, conspiracy of retail theft, and conspiracy to receive stolen property.
Henderson was released after posting a $1,000 cash bond following a Sept. 22 preliminary arraignment. He is due to have his preliminary hearing before Magisterial District Justice Douglas H. Lavenberg on Oct. 18 at 12:45 p.m.
Santiago is held in county jail, unable to post a monetary percent of his bail set at $5,000, or 10 percent. He will also face his charges on Oct. 18, at the same time as Henderson.
All suspects and defendants are innocent until proven guilty. This story was compiled using public court records.
