Fairfax Co. police uncover an “underwear underworld” in a major theft case

A three-man retail theft team now has its underwear in disarray after being arrested for stealing more than $24,000 worth of merchandise – mostly Victoria’s Secret underwear.

Fairfax County Police Capt. Dana Ferreira said the thieves stole the items Wednesday in Prince William County. Later that day, they drove to Tysons Corner Center and investigators were alerted to the car through their automatic license plate recognition system.

“They immediately went to work and found the vehicle in the garage,” Ferreira said. “And we are able to use the mall’s cameras to determine who dropped off multiple passengers who were moving around the mall.”

After arresting the suspects, officers found the stolen underwear, which came from Victoria’s Secret, according to police. Investigators are currently only aware of the thefts in Prince William County, but are working to determine whether they have committed similar crimes in other areas.

“They stole them from a relatively high-end retailer,” Ferreira said. “So these are items that would normally sell for quite a high cost. The suspects probably believed they could sell them for less than the retailer was charging and still make a good profit.”

Ferreira said they are seeing an increase in theft crimes in the area and are making a concerted effort to stop these occurrences in order to show thieves that it’s not even worth coming to the D.C. area to commit these crimes.

Felix Perez, 57, Amauri Roman Sanabia Balbuena, 44, both of New Jersey, and 38-year-old Jonathan Peralta Cabrera of New York are charged with grand larceny and other related charges.

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