Brazen thefts by 'Rainbow Girls’ at high-end retailers

Thefts at San Francisco’s swankiest stores have reached an epidemic level, as bad guys and bad gals grab high-end fashion items with near-impunity — with the “Rainbow Girls” leading the way.

“They come in a groups of four or five and they go right for the Ferragamos,” said Ken Peterson, a salesman at Arthur Beren Shoes on Stockton Street, which has been hit repeatedly.

Police tell us the “Rainbow Girls” — who get their name from their bright attire and dyed hair — are actually about three independent groups of women in their teens and 20s. The cops say they swoop into stores in the Union Square area, grab high-end goods and exit like running backs, plowing over anyone in their path.

“They seem to get high off of it,” Peterson said. “They know they will be gone by the time the police arrive.”

Police reports show that thieves fitting the Rainbow Girls’ description hit Neiman Marcus on Stockton Street on Nov. 7 and made off with two jackets worth $1,000 apiece, 21 Burberry scarfs worth a total of $9,970 and other goods for a total take of about $29,000.

The next day, they hit Armani on Post Street for about $10,000 worth of stuff.

They have also ripped off Gucci, Victoria’s Secret and other shops.

But they aren’t the only ones taking thefts to a higher level. The guys are getting into the act, too.

The latest example was an early-morning smash-and-grab at the Chanel Boutique on Maiden Lane, where two men made off with designer handbags valued at a jaw-dropping $265,000.

According to police, the thieves crashed a truck into the store at 3 a.m. Nov. 26, shattering the window. A man hopped out and grabbed six handbags, with an estimated value of more than $40,000 each.

No one has been arrested, and police are tight-lipped about whether they have suspects. What they do have is a bumper and a license plate that fell off the truck at the corner of Geary and Taylor streets. They also have the truck itself, but they didn’t get to it until someone torched it in the Bayview.

Not store’s first robbery

The same Chanel store was hit in May when a thief smashed the store’s front window and made off with 30 leather purses worth about $1,500 each.

In March, thieves drove a car through the front door of the nearby Prada in the early-morning hours when the store was closed, scooped up undisclosed items and fled.

Police tell us the loot from many of these thefts is probably being fenced over the Internet or peddled outside the country.

The cops are trying to end the robbery rash as the holiday shopping season hits high gear. Patrols have been beefed up in and around Union Square, including one officer who’s been assigned to the 100 and 200 blocks of Grant Avenue all day. Some businesses have hired their own security forces.

None of the spectacular cars-into-stores heists has resulted in arrests, but police have had better luck with Rainbow Girls. Over the past couple of years, the district attorney’s office has prosecuted six women linked to the loose-knit groups, two of them twice.

Startling sentences

“These types of incidents are not your run-of-the-mill shoplifting cases, because they typically involve a conspiracy to commit theft and in the aggregate result in thefts amounting to thousands of dollars at a time,” said Alex Bastian, a spokesman for the district attorney’s office.

“They were prosecuted on a whole slew of charges — conspiracy, grand theft, receiving stolen property, depending on the level of their culpability,” Bastian said.

The result was several felony and misdemeanor convictions — and County Jail time for the two repeat offenders.

How much jail time?

“Around two weeks,” Bastian said.

That’s what the judges gave them.

Bastian said the convictions led to a dip in Rainbow Girl activity for a while, but now they appear to be back. And bolder than ever.

“Sometimes they walk right up to the show window,” said Peterson, the shoe-store salesman. “They laugh and say, 'Not today.’”

San Francisco Chronicle columnists Phillip Matier and Andrew Ross appear Sundays, Mondays and Wednesdays. Matier can be seen on the KPIX TV morning and evening news. He can also be heard on KCBS radio Monday through Friday at 7:50 a.m. and 5:50 p.m. Got a tip? Call (415) 777-8815, or e-mail matierandross@sfchronicle.com. Twitter: @matierandross