Highland Park police say detectives are still interviewing the Chanel purse burglary suspects in their jail. The men have not been transferred to the Dallas County Jail.
“That would be a part of the investigation, is seeing what kind of information we can get from our suspects and find out if this is a part of a broader crime, or this is a one-off offense,” said Lt Lance Koppa, with Highland Park Police.
The suspects can be held in the town jail for up to 72 hours, meaning the transfer may not happen until Wednesday.
Highland Park police did not provide dates-of-birth for the five adult suspects (there are two 16-year-old juvenile suspects, as well)—but it appears from criminal records searches that none of the suspects have a criminal record in Texas.
Still, they’re charged with first degree felony theft – because the value of the stolen handbags and shoes, according to Chanel, is greater than $300,000.
A first degree theft charge means the value of the stolen property is greater than $300,000. Before September 1, 2015, the threshold was lower, at $200,000.
Highland Park authorities say each of the 45 stolen handbags was valued at least at $2,000, while some of them were valued at $15,000.
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“This is a big-time charge. This is decades in prison. And the suspects are looking at many, many years in prison, and their lives will be changed forever,” Koppa said.
Dallas-area Criminal Defense Attorney Pete Schulte doesn’t believe that. He thinks a big question in court will be determining the “fair market value” of those 45 handbags.
“Basically when there’s a theft of merchandise, whatever the price tag says, that’s what police use to value it. But when it goes to court, they’ll have a hearing where they’ll decide the true amount of the value,” he said.
“What Chanel sells it for in the store and what the real fair market value is, will all come down to what the state can prove in court,” he added.
Highland Park police say the charge is fair because they didn’t just steal a single high-value item. They rammed a vehicle through a store and made off with dozens of high-end products.
"You have lots of loss here, the value of each of the handbags is quite pricey,” Koppa said.
Attorney Pete Schulte believes this could ultimately end up as a third-degree felony or lower. If the suspects don’t have criminal histories, then probation is a likely outcome.
“The defense attorney has to argue the value of those handbags is a lot less than what Chanel says it is, so this’ll be interesting,” Schulte said.
“It’s going to be very interesting. I haven’t seen a case like this in a long time where you have a lot of high-end merchandise stolen in such a quantity at one-time,” he added.
It’s unclear if the five suspects have legal representation yet.
