Shoplifters casually rob California Marshalls as people watch, employees do not report crime

Multiple shoplifters in California were seen brazenly stealing from a Marshalls location as the crime continues in the state. 

"People shopping there were just kind of standing there watching. The only thing I figured I could do was get their identities and their license plates and give them to somebody who will do something with them," witness Lindsey Rodriguez, a resident of Hemet who recorded the suspects, told NBC4.

Rodriguez said she saw one man stroll out of the store with his arms full of clothing on Saturday evening in Hemet, and said one woman used wire cutters to sever security tags on expensive purses. 

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"What is this teaching our children? I don't want my kids to see that kind of stuff when we are going shopping at 7 o'clock at night," Rodriguez said.

"Citizens have to do something. We need to start standing up for ourselves because nobody else is doing it right now," she added.

Rodriguez and her husband called 911 during the incident and recorded license plates of the offenders’ cars. Police arrived on the scene, ran a license plate, but did not see any suspicious activity. 

Marshalls also did not report the incident, according to police. The company didn’t immediately respond to Fox News’s request for comment on the matter.  

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"The people that work at Marshalls are working and sit there on the clock and watch these people just steal from everybody," Rodriguez said.

The incident comes after numerous videos have surfaced in recent months showing people shoplifting in California, including in a Los Angeles suburb in July when two men were seen on camera brazenly leaving a TJ Maxx store with their arms full of shoplifted items

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"The employees at TJ Maxx have been told that, in these specific circumstances, it’s not worth it for you to go and physically attack, physically stop people that are walking out with this inventory," criminal defense attorney Alexandra Kazarian said of why many employees don’t confront shoplifters. "Because these businesses have insurance."

"People who are stealing giant, giant tote bags, giant backpacks worth of inventory are not getting the same benefit of the people that are stealing food and clothing for their children," she added at the time.

Los Angeles Police Department Sgt. Jerretta Sandoz added after the TJ Maxx incident that she blames Prop 47, a 2014 referendum that lowered criminal sentences on crimes such as shoplifting, for the recent increases. 

"If they’re caught, they’re probably given the equivalent of a traffic ticket," she said. "So it’s not taken seriously."

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"If you let these criminals think that they can go in and steal merchandise and steal things, what happens when someone tries to stop them," Sandoz added.