More than $116K worth of sunglasses stolen during summer crime spree in Winnipeg

A 22-year-old man and a 20-year-old woman have been arrested after nearly 300 designer sunglasses, worth more than $116,000, were stolen during a weeks-long crime spree at stores around Winnipeg, police say.

The two face charges after half a dozen separate thefts, which happened between early June and late August,police said in a Tuesday news release.

The first happened just after 7 p.m. on June 5, when23 pairsvalued at over $5,600 were taken from a business in the 1500 block ofRegent Avenue W., police said.

Police did not identifythe exact stores that were targeted in any of the thefts,but CBCNews has learned two of them were Sunglass Hut locationsone in St. Vital Centre andone intheOutlet Collection Winnipeg. Another was a Sunglass Outfitters by Sunglass Hut store across Sterling Lyon Parkway from the Outlet Collection.

"It kind of took all of us in shock,"said Thwisha Patel, manager of the Sunglass Hut storein St. Vital Centre, which was targeted in a theft on the evening of Aug. 28."Now you're always suspecting everybody."

According to police, that theft involved 72pairs of sunglasses, valued at over $25,000.

Another sunglass store in the St. Vital mall was robbedJune 12 around 7p.m., when 30 pairs were taken. That loss wasvalued at more than $11,000, police said.

The other thefts reported by police happened at theOutlet Collection locationsand Cabela's:

• June 23 around 8:45 p.m., when60 pairs worth more than $22,000 were taken.
• July 6 around 7:45 p.m., when 46 pairs valued at over $21,000 were taken.
• Aug.4 around6:30p.m., when67 pairs valued at almost $30,000 were taken.

Police say the value of all the glasses stolen totalsmore than $116,000.

In each case, a thief entered the businesswhile attempting to conceal their identity, according to police.

Patel said thefts can happen very quickly, when an entire shelf or two of glasses are swept up by a thief, or mayhappen moreclandestinely, with someone asking to try on glasseswhile someone else then distracts the clerk.

"They target glasses averaging around $400 to $500. They only have to grab four and it's already $2,000," she said, adding the thieves sometimes swap their cheap sunglasses for the expensive ones and walk out without staff realizing until later that something was taken.

"A few of our associates have also been threatened, which is very traumatizing. You don't feel safe coming to work anymore."

Police say their investigationled to executing a search warrant on Sept. 8at a suite on Pembina Highway, between Markham Road and Dartmouth Drive. More than 40 pairs of designer glasses, valued at over $12,000, were recovered, police say.

The 22-year-old man has been charged with six counts of theft over $5,000, according to police, while the 20-year-old woman faces charges of possessionof property obtained by crime over $5,000.