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Baseemah Davis, of Newark, New Jersey, was sentenced to two to six years behind bars in Suffolk County Court on Tuesday, Jan. 17. It followed her guilty plea to criminal possession of stolen property for stealing from the Balenciaga store in East Hampton in March 2022.
Prosecutors said surveillance video captured an unidentified woman wearing a pink ski mask and glasses entering the store at around 1:30 p.m. on Thursday, March 3, 2022. After browsing around for a short time, she asked an employee to check if they had a shoe in a particular size.
When the worker went to get the shoes, Davis and three others rushed into the store and grabbed several luxury handbags from the shelves, prosecutors said. All five then fled in a waiting Dodge Durango.
Their vehicle was quickly tailed by East Hampton Village Police and later a State Police trooper who followed them as they sped westbound on the Sunrise Highway before going north on Route 111 in Manorville.
At times, the Durango hit speeds of more than 100 miles per hour and drove into oncoming traffic. Troopers eventually abandoned the pursuit out of safety concerns.
A short time later, a trooper spotted the vehicle exiting the Long Island Expressway at Wading River Road in Manorville, where three of the suspects ran into a wooded area, according to police. Two people remained in the car.
Davis and three others were eventually arrested, including 25-year-old Wazir Rodgers, 26-year-old Jamal Johns, and 28-year-old Ali Harris, all of Newark.
Police are still working to identify and locate the unidentified woman.
“Large-scale retail theft results in consequences for our communities. These consequences are felt by store owners and by consumers, who ultimately must bear the costs of such activity through increased prices and the unavailability of certain goods,” Suffolk County District Attorney Raymond Tierney said.
"Each of the involved defendants arrested in this particular organized retail theft ring have now pleaded guilty and will serve significant sentences in state prison, which is a just consequence for their selfish and dangerous actions.”
Davis also pleaded guilty to seventh-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance.
Rodgers, Johns, and Harris each pleaded guilty to grand larceny and criminal possession of stolen property. Rodgers and Harris were sentenced to three to nine years behind bars, while Johns got 3 ½ to seven years.
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