Parking lot thieves steal $18K in merchandise from King of Prussia Mall shoppers

KING OF PRUSSIA, Pennsylvania (WPVI) -- A couple of bandits made off with more than $18,000 in merchandise from the King of Prussia Mall parking lot last month, according to police.

Although parking lot thieves are nothing new, ones of this magnitude are, and the high-end heist is raising questions if there was adequate security.

Bill Phillips said that he and his girlfriend had just finished some high-end shopping when the incident occurred.

"We were at Louis Vuitton, David Yurman jewelers, Hermes," Phillips said.

Hands full with holiday gifts, the pair left the King of Prussia Mall at the Nordstrom's exit to drop off their items in the backseat of their SUV.

Phillips said they went back into the mall to grab a bite to eat, and less than 20 minutes later, he received a call from his office.

"Saying, 'Are you at the mall?' I said, 'Yeah, I am here right now.' They said, 'Better get back to your car. Someone broke into your car and stole everything,'" said Phillips.

Two witnesses told police that two females pulled up to Phillips' SUV with a bat or sledgehammer, smashed his rear window, and took off with the loot.

"Within about a minute or a minute and a half, they were gone," Phillips said.

The witnesses said the thieves had their license plate covered.

Phillips said what was even more troubling is that the mall surveillance cameras didn't catch the crime, even one that was right above his vehicle.

"They said it was pointing down towards the elevator coming out of the lower-level because they were having problems there, but the main parking area up there has no cameras at all," Phillips said.

A glance of the parking lot appears to show four surveillance cameras. We wanted to learn how not one captured the crime.

The Simon Group that owns the mall had no comment when Action News pressed for answers on the investigation and whether the mall had sufficient surveillance in this day and age.

Upper Merion police said it's unclear if the criminals followed Phillips and his girlfriend out of the KOP Mall or watched them in the parking lot.

Investigators said they have no leads.

"The vehicle was parked in an area that didn't have a really great surveillance footage of it," said Lt. Jeffery Maurer. "But we are trying to backtrack to see where our victims came from in the mall."

Phillips said he is working with his credit card companies to get reimbursed for some of his luxury items.

"It's a lot of money. Unfortunately, I haven't heard anything really from the mall. I haven't heard anything from the police," Phillips said.

Upper Merion police said they do step up patrols during the holidays, but people need to do their part and be aware of their surroundings.