A series of robberies struck Charles Street last weekend, with thieves using loose bricks found around the street to steal hundreds or even thousands of dollars of jewelry, cash and electronics from local businesses.
The robberies took place from the evening of August 19 to the early morning of August 21, with thieves shattering the glass of fashion boutiques, furniture retailers and even rental storage businesses looking for valuables.
Thieves also attempted to break into jewelers, but tighter security ensured they were met with failure. Persona Fine Jewelry says it was not the target of any attempts but reportedly still boarded up its storefront out of an abundance of caution.
The likely largest victim of the attack was the fashion boutique Soodee, which was broken into sometime before business hours on August 20. Police arrived to find the door open, and glass shattered.
The thieves stole around $600 in cash, the cash register itself, a box of rings and some jewelry. They also apparently injured themselves in the process, spilling blood “everywhere.” Store owner Diane Agoun says the items they had to throw out due to bloodstains coupled with damage to the building likely puts their liability in the thousands of dollars.
“There was blood on the walls, inside the drawer, it took us hours to clean,” she said. “I think he was there for quite a while, for around ten minutes trying to collect valuable stuff. Blood everywhere. We threw a lot away because it had too much blood on it.”
Remy Creations was another fashion retailer hit, with thieves breaking in on the night of August 19. While the owner could not be reached for comment, the initial police report shows that at least a $900 iPad was missing.
The robbers were scared away from fashion boutique December Thieves by an alarm their first night, but they returned the following night to break the glass with a brick, grab $100 from the cash register and leave.
Robbers also targeted a rental storage facility and a furniture business. The rental units reported a laptop and $200 in cash taken, with police still working to get in touch with the other victim to conduct an inventory.
Agoun called on the mayor and police department to take action, saying she didn’t feel safe living and working around Charles Street. December Thieves manager Jemesii Delande said she was comfortable on the street, but still supported the idea of increasing police presence given recent events.
“This isn’t the first time,” said Agoun.
“Beacon Hill is such a beautiful, classic area. This shouldn’t be happening, not so often. The mayor should do something. We’re not protected at all. We really need more policemen. The tourist areas should be safe.”
“We’ve also been hoping the city will follow through on repairing the sidewalks. We have a significant amount of loose bricks and we’ve contacted 311 for several years to get them repaired, and the city hasn’t done anything to fix that,” said Delande.
At this point few details are available on the culprit. Security footage showed a man wearing a hoodie at both Soodee and the rental facility, but a lack of detail and differences in clothing make it unclear at this time whether it’s the same person or a group that shares taste in technique, area and timing.
Police declined to speculate as to whether the cases were related or simply copycats. They also refrained from saying whether they suspect the attacks are premeditated or more opportunistic, saying they’ll wait until they have more information.
“We can’t speculate until we have someone in custody, and we know what their MO was,” said Sergeant Detective John Boyle. “We are looking for the public’s help in this. We strongly urge anyone with any information to reach out, and for anyone in that area to keep an eye out for suspicious activity.”