Irvine store owner speaks out after luxury handbag burglary attempt: 'It just keeps happening'
IRVINE, Calif. (KABC) -- The owner of a luxury handbag store in Irvine is speaking out after burglars broke in and tried to make off with a hundred thousand dollars worth of bags, and she says it's not the first time her store has been targeted.
"It just keeps happening," said Tammy Phan, the CEO and founder of Luxe Du Jour, a luxury resale store where customers buy and sell authentic designer bags.
"We moved here to the States because we got investments through Dragon's Den, which is like the Shark Tank of Canada. And we expanded here, opened our head office. It's been peaceful," she said.
Peaceful until three months ago, when Phan says burglars targeted her store.
They took some Hermes bags that time. Then it happened again.
"They made out with much cheaper-end items because, of course, we tightened up security measures."
The third strike happened around 4 a.m. Monday. A building security officer called 911 as two suspects broke in.
"They start rummaging through other things, trying to look for other high-end bags, and ultimately what happened is that 20 cop cars showed up, surrounded the whole building," she said.
Costa Mesa police jumped in to help, patrolling outside with a drone and allowing Irvine police to move in with a K-9.
The suspects tried fleeing through a stairwell but ultimately were caught.
Richard Bernard Spencer, 40, and Marcellus Ronell Shelby, 30, both from Los Angeles, were arrested.
As the Irvine Police Department's investigation remains ongoing, Phan is grateful for their work and hopes their robust response sends a message.
"Just don't do crime because it will catch up to you. Was it really worth it? Because now it's a felony charge. It's over, I think, half a million dollars."
