Charles Co. Patrol officers apprehend suspects in fragrance thefts

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On May 10, a male and a female entered a department store on Mall Circle in Waldorf and stole nearly $3,000 worth of fragrances. They returned later and stole more fragrances and were seen by loss prevention employees placing the stolen items in a blue SUV, which was parked at a nearby restaurant. When officers arrived, they found both suspects inside the restaurant. The male attempted to flee but was quickly detained, and both were arrested without further incident. All of the stolen fragrances were recovered, in addition to other stolen items. Robert Lee Pettigrew, age 52, from Brandywine, and Zatay Ejasia Owens, age 26, of Bowie, were charged with theft and shoplifting. On May 11, a district court commissioner released Pettigrew and Owens from the Charles County Detention Center on personal recognizance.

Following this arrest, detectives from the CCSO’s Criminal Investigations Division obtained a search warrant to search a blue Range Rover, owned by Pettigrew, which was used by the suspects in this case. During this search, nearly $20,000 worth of additional fragrances and clothing items were recovered. Officers are working to identify the owners of this property. Anyone with information regarding these or other similar thefts is asked to contact Detective/Sgt. Feldman at 301-609-6451.


CONTACT: Diane Richardson
Media Relations Office
(301) 609-6557 or (240) 682-1658



The CCSO was accredited by the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies, Inc. (CALEA) in 2001 and has since earned the highest rating of Excellence. Established in 1658, the CCSO is one of the oldest law enforcement agencies in the United States. For more information, visit www.ccso.us. Charles County Crime Solvers offers rewards of up to $1,000 for information that leads to the arrest or indictment of a person responsible for a crime in Charles County. All individuals who provide tips through Crime Solvers will remain anonymous. Anyone with information about an unsolved crime or the location of a fugitive may contact Charles County Crime Solvers by calling 1-866-411-TIPS. Tips can also be submitted online at www.charlescountycrimesolvers.com or by using the P3Intel mobile app, which can be found in the Android Store and Apple Store by searching P3tips. For more information about the P3 program, click on this link: www.p3intel.com.

Disclaimer: In the U.S.A., all persons accused of a crime by the State are presumed to be innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. See: https://so.md/presumed-innocence. Additionally, all of the information provided above is solely from the perspective of the respective law enforcement agency and does not provide any direct input from the accused or persons otherwise mentioned. You can find additional information about the case by searching the Maryland Judiciary Case Search Database using the accused's name and date of birth. The database is online at https://so.md/mdcasesearch . Persons named who have been found innocent or not guilty of all charges in the respective case, and/or have had the case ordered expunged by the court can have their name, age, and city redacted by following the process defined at https://so.md/expungeme.