Three Virginia men are each facing multiple charges after a shoplifting incident in Pentagon City led to a significant drug discovery.
The shoplifting happened just before 4:30 p.m. Friday on the 900 block of Army Navy Drive, which is near both the Pentagon City mall and the Westpost shopping center.
A D.C. woman has been arrested and charged with a trio of thefts from Arlington stores.
The thefts date back to October 2024. Police did not identify the businesses involved but they occurred on two blocks, in Pentagon City and Rosslyn, that correspond with the location of Target stores.
Eight shoplifting suspects were arrested in a Pentagon City operation as new police data shows Arlington retail crime is on the rise.
In a May 30 retail theft detail, the Arlington County Police Department arrested seven people on petit larceny charges and one person on a grand larceny charge. The arrests resulted in the recovery of more than $6,000 in stolen merchandise, police said in a press release.
Crime continued to increase in Arlington last year, according to police department stats, with notable upticks in reported assaults and shoplifting incidents.
The overall number of more serious “Group A” offenses increased 11% between 2023 and 2024, according to the Arlington County Police Department’s annual report released today (Tuesday).
A 23-year-old D.C. woman is facing several charges after an incident that prompted a sizable police response at the Pentagon City mall.
It happened Tuesday morning when an officer confronted a shoplifting suspect, who then allegedly tried to flee, leading to a foot pursuit and a struggle.
Two men are facing allegations of assaulting first responders in separate incidents in Virginia Square and Pentagon City last week.
The first incident started around 4:30 p.m. Friday, a block away from the Virginia Square Metro station. A shoplifting suspect led officers on a brief foot chase, fled on a Metro train, exited at East Falls Church and then ran on the tracks before being taken into custody nearby, according to Arlington County police.
Shoplifting cases in Arlington are up nearly 60% over all of 2023, even with almost four weeks left in the year.
That’s prompted a Christmastime crackdown by Arlington County police, which says it is “deploying additional police resources to keep shoppers and retail employees safe.”
A man who tried unsuccessfully to shoplift from the Ballston area Harris Teeter later flashed a gun, prompting a large police response.
The alleged incident happened just after 11 p.m. last night (Tuesday) at the grocery store on the 600 block of N. Glebe Road.
Arlington’s police union is calling for better pay following increases in some violent crimes and two incidents where suspects allegedly fought police.
As of last week, the Arlington County Police Department has 61 vacancies or a 16.2% vacancy rate, Randall Mason, president of the Arlington Coalition of Police, told ARLnow.
Thieves have been increasingly targeting the Ballston area Target store, making it a frequent destination for police dispatches lately.
Arlington crime reports for July so far contain some 20 theft offenses for the 700 block of N. Glebe Road, where the store is located. The police department identifies crimes by block number and generally does not identify which specific businesses were the victim of crimes.
An Alexandria man is facing a battery of charges after police say he tried to take an officer’s gun while being arrested for theft.
The incident happened around 6 p.m. this past Friday in the Courthouse area. The alleged shoplifting took place on the 2000 block of Clarendon Blvd, which includes a 7-Eleven and an Ace hardware store.
A 30-year-old man has been charged with arson, among other crimes, after allegedly trying to light a fire inside an ACPD cruiser.
The incident started Tuesday morning at the Pentagon Centre shopping center in Pentagon City. Arlington County police say the suspect shoplifted from two separate stores before officers arrived and took him into custody.
