Although parking thieves are nothing new, so are those of this size, and high-end robbery raises questions about whether there is sufficient safety.
Bill Phillips said he and his girlfriend had just finished some upscale shopping when the accident happened.
“We were in Louis Vuitton, David Yurman jewelers, and Hermes,” Phillips said.
Hands full of holiday gifts, the couple left the King of Prussia Mall at the Nordstrom exit to drop their stuff in the backseat of their SUV.
Phillips said they were back at the mall to eat, and less than 20 minutes later, he got a call from his office.
Saying, “Are you in the mall?” “I said,“ Yes, I’m here now. ”Phillips said,“ You’d better get back to your car. Someone broke into your car and stole everything. “
Two witnesses told police that two women approached the Philips SUV with a bat or a sledgehammer, smashed its rear windshield, and took off looting.
“Within a minute or a minute and a half, they’re gone,” Phillips said.
Witnesses said that the thieves ’license plate was covered.
Most disturbing, Phillips said, was that surveillance cameras in the mall did not detect the crime, even if it was directly above his car.
“They said the elevator was pointing down at the elevator outside of the basement because they were having trouble there, but the main parking area at the top had no cameras at all,” Phillips said.
A peek at the parking lot appears to show four surveillance cameras. We wanted to learn how the crime had not been caught.
The Simon group that owns the mall had no comment when Action News pressed for answers about the investigation and whether the mall has adequate monitoring in this day and age.
Upper Merion County police said it’s unclear whether criminals followed Phillips and his girlfriend outside the KOP shopping mall or saw them in the parking lot.
The investigators said they had no leads.
“The car was parked in an area that didn’t really have great surveillance footage of it,” said Lt. Geoffrey Maurer. “But we are trying to retreat to see where our victims come from in the mall.”
Phillips said he is working with his credit card companies to obtain compensation for some of his luxury items.
“It’s a lot of money,” Phillips said. Unfortunately, I really didn’t hear anything from the mall. I didn’t hear anything from the police.
Merion High Police said they are ramping up patrols during the holidays, but people need to do their part and be aware of their surroundings.
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