In December, videos of suspects in puffer jackets and face masks gripping heaps of clothing allegedly stolen from the Nike store in downtown Bethesda spread across social media and caught the attention of local news.
About two months later another alleged aftermath of a theft at the Nike store was captured on camera and posted to Reddit with the caption: “Nike Store got robbed (AGAIN). This is absolutely crazy y’all, they’re about to close at this point.”
The brazen thefts allegedly from the Bethesda Row store in the shopping district owned by North Bethesda’s Federal Realty are two of dozens of shoplifting incidents in the downtown area that have occurred over roughly the past seven months, according to police. The incidents have sparked a community conversation about increasing security and the viability of business in the downtown Bethesda area.
All told, shoplifters reportedly have hit local businesses 67 times from January to July, according to data from Montgomery County police. That figure is nearly double the number of incidents—34– reported during the same time frame in 2023.
Shoplifting incidents were reported to police six times in each January and February, according to the data. In March, 11 incidents were reported, followed by 17 in April and 15 in May. In June, there were nine incidents and three reported last month as of July 19.
In recent years, retail theft has increased throughout the region, according to authorities. Locally, Giant Food has implemented additional security protocols to address what a company official described as “unprecedented” theft in its stores. On June 25, a clerk at a Giant Food store on Arlington Road in downtown Bethesda was punched in the face when a robbery suspect allegedly tried unsuccessfully to return stolen goods for cash, according to police.
In July, a CVS store in downtown Silver Spring also implemented protocols to deter theft and locked up merchandise including refrigerated drinks, according to WTOP. Some shoppers told the news outlet the measure was an inconvenience but they believed the company was doing what it needed to do to stay in business.
Though the number of shoplifting incidents has jumped dramatically this year in downtown Bethesda, Montgomery County police Commander Amy Daum, in charge of the department’s 2nd District covering Bethesda, said in an email to MoCo360 that “larceny shoplifting” is the only type of theft that has been increasing in the community.
Of the 67 reported thefts, Daum said the Nike store, at 7117 Arlington Road, and downtown Bethesda’s three CVS stores have reported the most incidents this year. Police did not share details on the number of theft incidents reported at each store.
Of the more than 30 retailers in Bethesda Row, Nike and Lululemon, at 4838 Bethesda Ave., have each reported three thefts involving three or more suspects, according to Daum.
Five additional thefts involving three or more suspects were also reported at CVS stores and three other stores in the downtown area, Daum said. Police did not clarify which of the three CVS stores in downtown Bethesda reported the thefts.
In a statement, Federal Realty said the company continues to “partner with the Montgomery County Police Department, our private security company and the neighborhood retailers to maintain the shopping and dining experience our customers have enjoyed for decades.”
As summer winds down and back-to-school shopping is expected to begin in downtown Bethesda, the area remains a safe place for people to visit, shop and eat with their families and children, Daum told MoCo360 in an interview.
She noted that incidents involving police in downtown Bethesda usually range from shoplifting and disorderly conduct to the occasional inebriated person on a weekend night.
“We are extremely fortunate that it is a very, very safe area,” Daum said, noting that in the entire Second District–-which covers all of Bethesda and Chevy Chase, Cabin John and North Bethesda-–theft of all types has decreased by nearly 21% in the last year.
Allie Williams, president and CEO of the Greater Bethesda Chamber of Commerce, said it is important for those who shop, dine or recreate in downtown Bethesda to not buy into the “sensationalism” of crime that happens on social media.
“A lot of things get blown out of proportion and sensationalized and that’s just not fair,” he said. “… Yes, we have incidences that occur, they are everywhere, but we’re working with community partners to educate our retailers and our establishments” about retail theft and resources available to them.
Increased police presence
Though Daum would not share details of her “deployment strategies” for officers in her district, some people say they have noticed an increased police presence in the downtown shopping area.
Dino Pampillonia, owner of Pampillonia Jewelers on Bethesda Lane, said he was pleased to see an increase in police presence along Bethesda Row in recent months. Pampillonia declined to discuss a break-in that had been reported at his store in May but said he believes the area is safe.
“We’ve seen more police here over the last couple of months than we have before,” he said. “There’s a good police presence … they do come in and talk to us. It feels good having them here.”
Longtime Bethesda resident Howard Schoenholtz told MoCo360 he noticed three marked police cars in the area and officers stopping in stores and talking to employees during a recent trip to Bethesda Row.
Curious about what was going on, Schoenholtz said he asked an employee at the Warby Parker store, at 4821 Bethesda Ave., who told him that more uniformed police officers had been stationed in the area and stopping by stores due to an increase in what Schoenholtz called “grab-and-go robberies.”
“It’s a little unsettling that you’ve got to have uniformed and armed police officers walking up and down the street to make it a less inviting place for bad guys to do their crime of opportunity. But you know, you do what you have to do,” he said.
“Businesses are [trying to] at least break even and hopefully make a buck,” Schoenholtz added. “And when you have people who walk out with hundreds or thousands of dollars’ worth of merchandise, stealing it, then it hurts the bottom line, and it plays a big role in businesses deciding whether or not they’re going to stay open in Montgomery County.”
Daum noted that private companies have hired off-duty police officers to patrol around their businesses, which could be a reason why people say they have noticed an increased police presence on Bethesda Row.
Humberto Alarcon, a security guard hired by Federal Realty who has patrolled Bethesda Row since May, told MoCo360 the number of thefts has “died down” in recent months, but he said Nike, Lululemon and Anthropologie, at 4801 Bethesda Ave., were the “top three” stores that he has seen impacted by theft.
Nike, Lululemon and Anthropologie did not respond to MoCo360’s requests for comment about whether they are experiencing retail theft at their stores.
As Alarcon recently sat on a bench outside of the Lululemon on Bethesda Avenue, he said he was assigned to patrol near the activewear store because it had been hit by shoplifters.
“It could be a random time in the morning, afternoon, night, just throughout the day when they’re open. Groups of young teenagers-–they’re in groups and it’s kind of obvious, you can tell what they’re about to do,” Alarcon said. “They just walk in [wearing] backpacks, hoodies, sweatpants with this kind of weather. And they just go in and grab stuff.
“They try to be slick about it and go into the fitting rooms and put it under their clothes and walk out of the store with everything on,” he said. “Sometimes they just put in a friend’s backpack or into bags, whatever they have.”
Police drones take flight in Bethesda
Williams said the chamber had heard from downtown Bethesda businesses about issues with retail theft “from time to time” and worked “aggressively” with County Council President Andrew Friedson (D-Dist. 1) to get funding for expansion of the county police department’s Drone as a First Responder program into Bethesda.
Later this August, the police department will expand the drone program to the downtown area. Under the program, which now operates in Silver Spring and Wheaton, police deploy drones in response to 911 calls or reports of a crime to assess the situation and share information with officers.
Daum said she thinks Bethesda’s new drone program will be effective and “extraordinarily valuable” in helping keep track of crime suspects and improving police response times in downtown Bethesda.
“Frankly, it’s kind of hard to get around [Bethesda],” she said. “Sometimes our response times are a little bit slower than I want them to be, just basically on the level of pedestrian, vehicular traffic that we encounter when we’re trying to get anywhere.”
Williams also sees the drone program as a welcome addition to the downtown Bethesda area.
“We’re extremely excited that the drones will be placed in Bethesda to help, not to just deter but to get that thing flying when a call comes in for a retail theft,” he said. “That drone will be there … perhaps before an officer can get there and start to follow and trail the people responsible for those retail thefts.”