Officers Intercept 2 Masked Suspects, Interrupt Organized Retail Theft

AMERICAN CANYON, CA — Officers made two arrests and interrupted a suspected organized retail theft Monday in American Canyon, police said.

Shortly before 9 a.m. Monday, American Canyon police officers were driving past Walgreens and saw two people walking together who were about to enter the store wearing face masks and hoodies.

The suspects both saw the officers and rather than continuing into the store, they immediately tried to leave, police said.

Based on the circumstances, officers believed the pair was about to go into Walgreens to commit an organized retail theft.

Officers were able to detain the pair — identified as Prinzess Lee, 23, of Sacramento, and Zariadeshaonna Russell, 22, of Oakland — to investigate.

Officers learned Lee was on Post Release Community Supervision from the California Department of Corrections.

During a search of their car, officers recovered thousands of dollars of stolen Walgreens merchandise.

The stolen items appeared to be from an organized retail theft that occurred at Walgreens in Walnut Creek two days earlier, police said.

Additional evidence indicating they were both involved in organized theft was also found on their person, police said.

Lee and Russell were arrested on suspicion of four felony charges related to the incident in American Canyon and were booked into the Napa County Department of Corrections.

Tuesday, records indicated the women were no longer in the custody of Napa County.

Patch sent a request for comment to the Walnut Creek Police Department about the Walgreens theft in its city. This post will be updated should we hear back.