Costa Mesa : Store Ripper Strikes Again, Slashing Suits

A person police describe as running “a cut-and-run operation” has struck again, damaging more than $8,000 in men’s designer suits last week at South Coast Plaza stores, police said.

Since last November, more than $48,000 in men’s clothes have been slashed at stores in Newport Beach and Costa Mesa. Police said Thursday they have no suspects.

Bullocks, one of the hardest-hit stores, was left with 20 ruined coats in the lastest rash of slashings, according to police reports. Sue Graham, the store’s general manager, declined comment, saying only that the store “is working closely with the Costa Mesa Police Department.”

Another target has been Robinson’s department store at the Fashion Island shopping center in Newport Beach. Leslie Husa, a spokeswoman at the store’s corporate offices in Los Angeles, said the store would not comment on whether new security measures are being developed.

Police believe that the criminal uses a razorlike instrument to damage the jackets, on the sleeves or near the shoulders. Most of the damaged coats have been sizes 38-44.