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Kitson Store Break-In: Thief Tunnels Through Wall In Brazen Heist
The high-end Kitson boutique on Robertson Boulevard in West Hollywood was broken into by a burglar who tunneled through the wall from an adjoining public bathroom.
"We've had a 'Shawshank Redemption' moment," said Kitson LA Stores Director Mark Peters, who was able to laugh about the break-in to ABC7. "Someone has literally burrowed through our walls to come into our store."
The break-in happened at the 115 S. Robertson Boulevard store; there are several neighboring stores, including Kitson Kids, Kitson Men and Kitson Studio.
Peters was puzzled that the thief only took one kind of merchandise, Brian Lichtenberg's Homiès line. "It's amazingly crazy considering everything we carry— he's an amazing designer, we love him," said Peters. "It's tongue in cheek, it's witty, it's clever, Rihanna, lots of great stars wear it and love it. So it's a hot item. Now it's literally a hot item on the street," he said.
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The T-shirts read "Homiès, South Central," a spoof on the much pricier Hermès line.
The thief apparently used construction equipment to tunnel through a wall. Store security cameras captured the incident, so they got a look at the suspect, who Peters describes as a 6-foot-tall man.
"They had to obviously case the joint, check us out, look at the patterns, see what times we close, and had to get a good understanding of just the store, the store layout, and I guess our vulnerability," said Peters.
The break-in happened around 11:45 p.m. Wednesday when the store was closed. Apparently, no alarms were tripped because store employees didn't find out until they showed up to work Thursday morning. That's when they called authorities.
By then the thief was long gone with thousands of dollars in merchandise, although he left some of the most expensive items behind.
"This was a very specific heist," said Peters.
Anyone with information can call the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department West Hollywood Station at (310) 855-8850.
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