On 10/23/2019, Amirah Lykeal Dennard, a 19-year-old Suisun City resident, was arrested by San Rafael Police Officers and Detectives while in the act of stealing from a Northgate Mall store. Dennard was the subject of an ongoing investigation connected to 11 previous cases where $18,000.00 in retail merchandise had been stolen.

Starting in April of this year, SRPD Officers began taking theft reports from the Northgate Mall involving a female suspect who was entering stores and stealing handfuls of merchandise. In August, the female suspect returned and committed three thefts from three different retail stores totaling over $6,500.00.

Officers began to work on trying to identify the female suspect through given vehicle descriptions, license plates, and surveillance video. Officers were able to determine that the female suspect was Dennard. Officers at the time started checking last known addresses for Dennard but were unable to locate her.

On October 16th and 18th, Dennard returned to the Northgate Mall and committed three additional thefts. In one case, Dennard threatened to pepper spray a clerk as she was leaving the store with stolen clothing causing the clerk to fear for their safety. As a result, San Rafael Detectives devised a plan to locate and capture Dennard for when she returned.

On October 23rd, at 9:20 AM, Dennard was observed driving to the front of Kohl’s at the Northgate Mall where she parked her vehicle in the red zone just outside the Kohl’s entrance. Dennard walked into the Kohl’s and detectives followed her inside.

Dennard was unaware that she was being followed and began to select armloads of clothing. The detectives approached Dennard while she was in the process of stealing. Dennard saw the detectives approaching, dropped the merchandise, and began to flee through the store.

The detectives and Kohl’s security gave chase. A Kohl’s employee, who was waiting at the opposite exit, blocked her path and tried to tackle her. Dennard used pepper spray on the employee to escape capture. One of the detectives that was chasing Dennard was also hit with the pepper spray. The two detectives were able to stop and take Dennard into custody as additional officers converged.

Dennard was taken into custody without further incident. The employee and detective suffered no long term injury after being sprayed. This incident was also captured on surveillance video.

Officers searched the vehicle Dennard had been driving and found large quantities of stolen clothing. Detectives were working on trying to determine who the stolen property belonged to.

Dennard was arrested and booked on multiple felony and misdemeanor charges which included, multiple counts of burglary, robbery, possession of stolen property, obstructing/resisting a peace officer, illegal use of pepper spray, using pepper spray against a peace officer, and driving on a suspended license. Detectives are also working to determine if Dennard is associated with any other theft cases in the Bay Area.

Anyone with information about this robbery case is asked to call the San Rafael Police Department at 415.485.3000.  SRPD has access to interpreters if necessary and you may remain anonymous.  You may also leave information on our website http://www.srpd.org/tips