Shoplifting crew caught on video at Target store

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Police are searching for a crew of alleged shoplifters who hit a Target store in San Pedro after their activities were caught on video, they said.

Surveillance video shows the two-man, two-woman crew filling shopping carts on Jan. 21 with clothing, toys and other household goods from the store at 1701 N. Gaffey Street.

They then headed to the cashier, where a woman dressed in black waited with a checkbook, KTLA-TV reported. Meanwhile, the other three loaded bags filled with scanned merchandise into carts.The cashier gave the woman the total — $1,075.95 — and she wrote a check, but it ended up being declined.

As the clerk and the woman tried to figure out why the check didn’t clear, the others pushed the carts out of the store to an SUV. According to police, the woman in black told the cashier that her husband could come back inside to pay for the merchandise.

She then went outside with a loss prevention worker to get him, but the others were gone. She told police her friends had left her and gave the store employee a description of a black Nissan Altima.

Moments later, a tan 1994-1998 Chevrolet pulled up on the sidewalk, and the woman ran to it and jumped inside. The vehicle took off, stopping at a nearby 7-Eleven before speeding away.

The woman at the counter was described as white, about 55 years old, 5 feet 9, and 200 pounds. She was wearing a black sweater and dark blue jeans. She had a red birthmark over her right eye.

Anyone with information about the suspects is asked to call LAPD Det. Don Eldridge at 310-726-7853.

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-- From a Times staff writer