A Chula Vista woman who was the ringleader in high-end retail clothing thefts from stores in National City and elsewhere was sentenced Monday to 180 days in jail and was ordered to pay $6,643 in restitution.
Lorena Gabriela Ramirez, 43, will be tentatively released on Sept. 5 from the Las Colinas Women’s Detention Facility, according to the sheriff’s department, as she got credit for 96 days spent in jail.
A co-defendant, Zakharias Dennis Karasoulas, 51, of Lake Elsinore, was released Monday night after being sentenced to the 96 days he has already spent in jail.
Both Ramirez and Karasoulas were ordered by San Diego Superior Court Judge Dan Link to not enter any stores owned by the Hollister Company or Abercrombie and Fitch as a condition of three years probation.
Link ordered Ramirez and Karasoulas to pay $6,643 and $4,876 respectively to the stores which lost clothing during the shoplifting sprees. The high-end clothing was sold at the South Bay Swap Meet and another swap meet in Spring Valley.
Link told Ramirez that since she had two misdemeanor theft convictions, the sentence for this offense “should be a huge wakeup call for you.” She faces up to three years in prison if she violates probation conditions.
Deputy District Attorney Joseph Whang said several people at the clothing stores lost their jobs as a result of the thefts after the clothing was discovered for sale at swap meets. He said the store managers were held responsible for store inventory.
Attorneys for both defendants objected to a further restitution order of $5,004 which the department stores are seeking for investigative costs. A restitution hearing for this amount was set for Sept. 19.
A third co-defendant, Mario Andres Espinoza, 42, will be sentenced on Aug. 31. Espinoza, also known as Mario Esker, has worked recently in a South Bay shoe store and remains free on $20,000 bond. The restitution amount for Espinoza was set at $1,767.
One theft occurred March 31 at the Hollister store in Plaza Bonita mall when Ramirez concealed stacks of t-shirts valued at $658 in her large black purse. On April 4, Ramirez fled the Hollister store in National City with stolen clothing valued at $1,018.
Managers at several stores attempted to confront Ramirez and Karasoulas but they escaped each time. On May 4, Karasoulas was stopped by sheriff’s deputies for speeding and weaving between lanes on Interstate 15 in his white van. Deputies discovered Karasoulas was driving on a suspended license and was in possession of 154 clothing items taken from the Hollister stores and Abercrombie & Fitch. Approximately $12,000 worth of clothing was found in Ramirez’s home in Chula Vista.
