Sephora retail stores (Image courtesy of Sephora Newsroom)
Police said that a theft from Sephora, coupled with a history of retail thefts, has combined for one man who now faces felony level charges.
Abington Township Police Department reported that on Dec. 27 at 5:36 p.m., they were dispatched to the Sephora located at 2500 Moreland Road within the Willow Grove Park Mall in the township for the report of a retail theft in progress. A loss prevention officer called the theft in after observing a black male on store video surveillance “selecting items for sale and concealing them into a bag,” said a police criminal complaint. The man then walked past all points of sale without making attempts to pay for merchandise, police said.
According to the complaint, the loss prevention officer continued to follow the suspect as he left the store and walked through the mall. He provided police with the man’s location, said the complaint.
When a fully uniformed officer attempted to stop the man and speak to him, he fled on foot through the parking lot of the mall, police said, which at the time was “full of moving vehicles.” The man continued to flee police on foot, running across Old Welsh Road to Rubicam Avenue, said police.
As another officer pulled a fully marked police vehicle near his location, the man stopped running and was taken into custody, said the complaint. The suspect was then identified as Charles James Meadows Jr., 36, of the 2100 block of East Orleans Street in Philadelphia.
The merchandise stolen from Sephora totaled a value of $127.40, police said. A check of Meadows’ criminal history proved he had several convictions for prior retail thefts, which made these charges a felony grade, said police.
Meadows is charged with felony counts of retail theft by the taking of merchandise and receiving stolen property, as well as a misdemeanor charge of evading arrest or detention on foot. He was released on a signature bail.
Meadows is scheduled for a preliminary hearing on Feb. 19 at 10:45 a.m. before Magisterial District Judge Juanita A. Price.
All suspects and defendants are innocent until proven guilty. This story was compiled using public court records.
