Thieves crash van into Downtown Saks Fifth Avenue

The heist lasted just seven seconds, if that.

Four men emerged from a blue minivan that rammed through the front entrance of the Downtown Saks Fifth Avenue about 6 a.m. Wednesday.

Shards of glass, mannequins and other items were strewn about by the force of the van plowing through a security gate and the glass front doors. The debris didn’t prevent the four unidentified suspects from grabbing up to 11 pursues, some of which were valued at more than $1,000 each, police said.

“The pull-down gates they rammed through are a great deterrent,” said Lt. Steve Saunders, Cincinnati Police Department spokesman. “Unfortunately, most businesses don’t imagine a car coming through.”

Police didn’t have an exact estimate for the cost of the merchandise stolen, but said the purses could be worth up to $11,000 based on two tags that fell off during the burglary.

Video recorded by a witness captured the men sprinting from the storefront with merchandise in-hand. They fled to a nearby minivan, and left in it.

The suspects were also recorded on store surveillance video, police said.

The getaway van was later described by police as a silver or gray 1998 Dodge Caravan with an Ohio license plate of DTV2517. The van was reported stolen from the West End off Central Avenue sometime between 2 a.m. and 6 a.m., before it was used in the burglary, Saunders said.

The Dodge Caravan was found abandoned in Fort Mitchell around 1:30 p.m. Investigators are searching the van for evidence that may point to the four burglary suspects.

Saks officials did not respond to The Enquirer’s request for comment. The store was open later Wednesday morning.

Saunders said Cincinnati police would place special emphasis on the case because of the store’s prominent location at the corner of West Fifth and Race streets.

The area sees a high amount of foot traffic, and was likely to see a high volume of holiday shoppers, Saunders said.

“It’s a pretty brazen, pretty bold thing to do Downtown. This wasn’t a suburban street corner,” Saunders said.

The Saks store is no stranger to thefts. The store was hit twice in spring 2014, according to previous Enquirer reports.

Thieves took almost $5,780 worth of handbags during an April 2014 incident.

The theft came weeks after three women and two men stole about $19,000 worth of Louis Vuitton purses and luggage during a March 2014 incident.

Saunders said the upgrades to security features on the store property, including the installation of perimeter barriers outside, would likely be considered after Wednesday's event.

"We will certainly talk to them about some target-hardening tools they can use, even though this is obviously an unusual circumstance," Saunders said.

Wednesday’s burglary was similar to one that occurred at a Saks Fifth Avenue Sept. 18 in Beachwood, a Cleveland suburb.

There, a stolen Jeep crashed into the store, and merchandise was also stolen, according to a Cleveland.com report.

Saunders said he couldn't confirm if the unidentified suspects from the Downtown heist had any connection to other burglaries outside Greater Cincinnati, but added CPD detectives would communicate with other agencies to compare information if necessary.