Philadelphia DA Larry Krasner Plans To 'Vigorously Prosecute' Looting Cases With 'Restorative Justice Approach'
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Within hours of the National Guard leaving Philadelphia on Wednesday, at least one Center City business was broken into overnight. H&M was boarded up in Center City for several days, and now it's been boarded up again after it was broken into earlier Thursday.
Eyewitness News found several officers outside of H&M Thursday morning and a broken boarded-up door. Police arrested a woman found inside, but officers still need help identifying suspects from other cases.
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Just released security video shows more than a dozen people breaking into CK Real Beauty on West Passyunk Avenue in South Philadelphia. It happened around 8 a.m. back on May 31.
In the video, you can see the looters storm in, dart from aisle to aisle, and quickly grab everything they can from expensive hairpieces to jewelry. They even took two cash registers.
"It's frustrating. This section here was all flat irons," said the store's manager, who didn't share his name.
On Thursday, the manager showed Eyewitness News the shelves that still sit empty. He says hours after the May 31 looting, the store was boarded up, but the second group of looters came.
This time, in all, he says up to $100,000 in merchandise was taken, although insurance may cover part of that.
"This is the time we all must come together," he said, "and not steal from one another."
The Philadelphia District Attorney's Office says since late May, more than 550 burglary and looting arrests have been made.
"We intend to vigorously prosecute," District Attorney Larry Krasner said. "Some of these burglaries, at the most extreme end, involve things like burglarizing a gun shop and trying to go out the front with enormous quantities of guns. Some of them, on the other hand, are an 18-year-old who's never had contact with the criminal justice system before, not even an arrest, who's going in through a broken window and coming out with a T-shirt.
"So we need to look at that array and we need to look at every one of those cases individually to understand the conduct and to understand who the person was. Whether this is a person who is fundamentally a criminal or if this is someone who got swept up and can be held accountable in a way that is constructive."
FULL COVERAGE OF GEORGE FLOYD PROTESTS
Krasner also says a younger suspect with no prior arrests may have to do community service and repay for the stolen items instead of facing jail time and a felony conviction.
"Often victims are much more satisfied with a restorative justice approach," Krasner said.
U.S. Attorney William McSwain released a statement saying, "Anybody who is familiar with Krasner's methods could see this coming from a mile away. He is setting the stage for letting the rioters, looters, burglars, and arsonists who rampaged through Philadelphia off the hook. This criminal behavior has nothing to do with peaceful protest. Krasner has never shown any interest in upholding the rule of law and isn't going to start now."
The Philadelphia Opportunities Industrialization Center, which helps the unemployed, sent a message to the community on Thursday. It said, in part, "No matter how justifiably angry and hurt one is, there is no right to destroy or deface property."
Business owners told Eyewitness News similar sentiments over the past week and a half.