A crime spree centered on beauty busted by Fairfax Co. police

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Police say a trio of D.C. men were quick, efficient and increasingly violent as they robbed a Maryland mall. In fact, Fairfax County Police Chief Kevin Davis said the three were like 鈥渙ddsmakers鈥� as they calculated the risk before they would strike.

On Monday evening, police in Anne Arundel County arrested 21-year-old Damari Cousar, 28-year-old Rasaan Washington, and a 17-year-old boy 鈥� all from D.C. 鈥� as they were leaving a mall in Annapolis, Maryland.

鈥淭hey know what they’re going to do,鈥� Davis said. 鈥淭hey have a plan. They map out the locations where they’re going to hit. And then they make decisions. They make business decisions, 鈥榳here are we going to go? Do we have access to major highways? How quickly can I leave one jurisdiction and go to the next?鈥欌€�

While no robbery was committed on Monday, police believe they鈥檙e responsible for at least 20 smash and grabs at Ulta Beauty stores between Anne Arundel and Prince William counties.

Anne Arundel County officers arrived in Fairfax expanding the list of stores and crimes, minutes before the arrests were announced. Cases go back to at least August, and the total value of the products taken runs around $250,000.

鈥淚n a very short amount of time they were in that store, stole the high end fragrances and made away from the store,鈥� Fairfax Deputy Police Chief Gregory Fried said. 鈥淢ost recently on a case that they were involved on March 18 in Montgomery County, Maryland, one of the offenders involved lifted his waistband and showed that he had a firearm. So I think it shows the escalation of violence that they were going to continue and not stop with these crimes.鈥�

A tip from D.C. police that the would-be suspects were heading into Maryland again on Monday was passed on to officers in Anne Arundel County.

Davis said technology and police work caught them and their luck ran out. Police in Fairfax County credit the use of license plate readers and technological聽advances.

鈥淭oday’s license plate readers aren’t the license plate readers that you and I were introduced to years ago,鈥� Davis said. 鈥淭hey have additional technologies, AI technologies, attached to their systems.”

鈥淪o when we are looking for a car, even if we don’t have the tag number 鈥� we are now able to enter in those particulars into a sophisticated license plate reader platform that allows us to more quickly identify these cars,鈥� he added. 鈥淲e all know that bad guys change tags, but if we still have the blue four-door sedan with a defect to the left front fender that will send us an alert.鈥�

Police there say the suspects were in the Annapolis Mall for less than an hour, but it was long enough for officers to find their vehicle and surround it so they couldn鈥檛 escape as they left the mall. And it was one instance, police say, that a crime wasn鈥檛 committed in the minutes leading up to their arrest.

Anne Arundel County Police said they weren鈥檛 sure why the suspects were at the mall that evening.

It’s believed that the stolen goods 鈥� mostly perfumes and hair products 鈥� would then be sold at a discount.

鈥淚f a deal sounds too good to be true, it is too good to be true,鈥� Davis said. 鈥淎nd sometimes, it’s too good to be true because it’s stolen and you’re buying stolen merchandise. And you may be doing so unwittingly, but if you find yourself in a parking lot where someone approaches you and pops the trunk of their car to display some fragrances or some hair products, your ‘spidey senses’ should go up that you’re probably interacting with a thief who is trying to sell you stolen goods.鈥�

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