Score one for the good guys.

Rus writes in…

Some guys just tried to rob Kaleidoscope but Camille ran them off. The police were there in seconds and Lyn Sawicki and staff as well as Cakes and Ale staff were immediately on hand to help (and looked ready to kick ass!) Last it seemed the robbers were running empty handed away from downtown Decatur.

Nice work Camille!  I hope you scared the pants off them!

UPDATE: My wife just came back from Sawicki’s…According to Lynn, two “kids” guys in their 20s went down that strip of Ponce, from Cook’s Warehouse to Heliotrope to Sawickis to Kaleidoscope.  And when they got to Kaleidoscope…Camille chased them down the street with a can of pepper spray.

They didn’t get anything from Sawicki’s, but I’m not sure about the others.

Seems like all of our leads and details were right on the money. Nice job Carl and everyone else that contributed pieces to this story.

Here’s the full story from the AJC…

The rash of “blue jean bandit” thefts in Atlanta has apparently spread to Decatur, where a clothing store was struck by thieves within an hour of a similar robbery in Buckhead.

Kaleidoscope, a clothing store on West Ponce de Leon in downtown Decatur, was robbed Wednesday afternoon, Decatur police Capt. David Hipple said. A group of young males pepper-sprayed employees before fleeing with high-end blue jeans and other apparel.

The same thing happened about an hour earlier, shortly before 4 p.m., at Brazil Fine Italian Menswear on Peachtree Road near Piedmont Hospital, Atlanta police spokesman Eric Schwartz said.

Two men came into the store and stayed about 10 minutes before leaving, only to return with about five or six other men. A female employee was pepper-sprayed and punched in the face by the suspects.

Police suspect the incidents are related. The suspects in the Decatur robbery fled the scene in a stolen gold minivan police say they think was used in the earlier Atlanta theft.

Atlanta and Decatur police plan to hold a joint news conference later this afternoon in Atlanta to discuss the incidents, Hipple said.

Police for months have been looking for a band of thieves who have been preying on high-end boutiques. Until now, the blue jean bandits have struck late at night, breaking glass windows and doors to gain entry.

Hipple said video footage taken from surveillance cameras at the Decatur boutique shows the suspects’ faces. Decatur police chased the minivan after the incident but lost the vehicle in Atlanta, he said.  [A comment in the previous post said the chase took place on DeKalb Ave and was halted after the van hit three cars]

The daylight robberies are brazen, Hipple said.

“It happens quick, and I guess that’s their advantage,” he said.

So no one has EVER been arrested in connection with these “blue jean” robberies? It seems like a crime ring.

Also, if these are the “blue jean bandits” known for their quick in-and-out, its pretty impressive that the Decatur PD was able to catch up with them. I’ve yet to hear about another jean robbery where police pursued suspects. I would like to know more detail about how they were alerted.

h/t: InDecatur