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Shoplifter With $19,000 in Merchandise Arrested in Palo Alto

Palo Alto Police arrested a San Francisco woman this weekend with more than $19,000 in stolen property in the trunk of her car after she shoplifted more than $1600 of clothing from a retailer at Stanford Shopping Center.

On Saturday, February 26, 2022, at about 4:34 p.m., officers responded to Victoria’s Secret at Stanford Shopping Center at 180 El Camino Real at the request of a store loss prevention officer.  The loss prevention officer reported that a woman currently in the store had committed prior shoplifts.  As police waited outside, the loss prevention officer continued to observe the woman and watched as she concealed more than $1600 of clothing into a bag she had brought into the store with her.  She then left the store without paying for the merchandise, and police detained her without incident.

The investigation revealed that the suspect had come to the shopping center in a vehicle registered to her (a black 2015 Mercedes C300 sedan), but that was bearing an unreported stolen license plate.  Police determined that the license plate had been stolen off a vehicle registered in San Francisco.  Inside the car, police located more than $19,000 in property stolen from other Victoria’s Secret stores in Fairfield and San Jose, as well as from a prior theft at the Palo Alto store.  Police also found two iPads that had been stolen from Victoria’s Secret stores that belonged to the business, and an additional license plate that had been reported lost or stolen off a vehicle registered in Rancho Cordova.

Police booked 20-year-old Jaleila Sharee Blaettler of San Francisco into the Santa Clara County Main Jail for felony commercial burglary, felony possession of stolen property, misdemeanor possession of stolen property, and misdemeanor possession of burglary tools (for the bag with which she entered the store to conceal the stolen merchandise).