May 22, 2009  |  By: Lou Chibbaro Jr.  | COMMENTS     

The gay owner of Universal Gear clothing and apparel store at 14th and Q streets, N.W., has expressed concern that D.C. police have yet to identify or arrest members of the same group of young men who have repeatedly stolen merchandise totaling about $4,000 from his store over the past 18 months.

Owner David Franco, who moved the upscale store from 17th Street to 14th Street in 2007, said the rash of “snatch-and-run” robberies remains unsolved despite the fact that he has turned over to police high-resolution video surveillance footage of a number of the young male suspects taken from cameras installed inside the store.

Franco said he also turned over to police credit card information from one of the suspects who made a purchase in the store. Franco said he believes the suspect made the purchase to divert the attention of an employee while his accomplices grabbed expensive designer shirts and jeans before the group ran out of the store — all in a matter of about 60 seconds.

“The cashier saw his driver’s license and it matched the credit card,” Franco said in describing one of the robberies that occurred April 1. “We gave all this information to the police, but they never got back to us.”

Assistant D.C. Police Chief Diane Grooms told the Blade in an e-mail that she visited the store last week and viewed the video surveillance footage of some of the suspects. She said she is arranging to have more police patrols in the area around Universal Gear, which is located at 1529 14th St., N.W. She has asked First District Police Commander George Cusik to arrange for one of his officers to park a police scooter in front of the store during evening hours as a deterrent to future robberies.

Grooms’ visit to the store came one day after Universal Gear called police to report the most recent robbery, which occurred May 13. Franco said that incident involved one of the suspects forcefully shoving an employee out of the way as he ran out of the store with his arms full of shirts and jeans from the upscale G-Star label.

Her visit also followed an e-mail that Franco sent expressing concern about the police response to the robberies to Police Chief Cathy Lanier; D.C. Council member Jack Evans (D-Ward 2), who represents the area where Universal Gear is located; and the Blade.

“The latest robbery and assault happened about 7:30 in the evening,” Franco said in his e-mail.

“There is a group of about seven to nine young black males who have been robbing our store and assaulting our employees in the process,” he said. “There have been numerous police reports filed, but the criminals have not been apprehended … I am concerned about the safety of my employees.”

Franco said he uploaded his surveillance video of the suspects to YouTube on Thursday. He said the posting has already prompted someone from the D.C. area to provide information to Universal Gear about one or more of the suspects, which he immediately passed on to D.C. police.

“This will be a way for the community to see the criminals during the crime,” he said of the video.

According to Franco, the as-yet-unidentified suspects appear to be highly organized. At least one of them acts as a “look out” person and uses his cell phone to call an accomplice who arrives in a getaway car seconds before the suspects dash out of the store with their arms full of merchandise, Franco said.

Grooms and a spokesperson with the department’s Public Information Office didn’t immediately respond to a Blade request for follow-up information on the status of the investigation into the robberies and why police had not released photos of the suspects from the video that Universal Gear provided the police more than a year ago.

Police routinely release video-generated photos of crime suspects to the news media and publish them on the police web site, www.mpddc.gov.

Franco said he doesn’t believe the suspects are targeting his store because it’s gay owned. None of them have ever made anti-gay comments or hurled names at store employees during the robberies, he said.

“They are targeting us because we have an expensive line of desirable merchandise,” he said.