Police searching for 5 in theft at Roosevelt Field mall

Police are searching for four women and a man who they say threatened security guards, spraying one in the face with mace, while stealing designer handbags from a store at the Roosevelt Field mall Monday night.

Police said the male suspect was seen on surveillance video of the Neiman Marcus store using bolt cutters to cut security wires that attached the handbags to shelves. Security officers then saw one of the women take a handbag before fleeing with the other three women, police say

Confronted by a security guard outside the store, one of the women pulled out a small canister believed to contain mace and sprayed the guard in the face, police said. That guard was later transported to a hospital for treatment.

Police said that when another security guard with the East Garden City mall confronted the man in the group, who also had stolen merchandise,  the man “raised the bolt cutters over his head in a threatening manner,” then fled through another exit.

Police had no estimate of the value of the stolen merchandise.

Nassau County police said the five were last seen fleeing in a Hyundai Santa Fe and are asking anyone with information about the incident to call Crime Stoppers at 800-244-TIPS. All calls will remain confidential and callers are eligible for a cash reward.

By John Valenti

john.valenti@newsday.com

John Valenti, a reporter at Newsday since 1981, has been honored nationally by the Associated Press and Society of the Silurians for investigative, enterprise and breaking news reporting, as well as column writing, and is the author of “Swee'pea,” a book about former New York playground basketball star Lloyd Daniels. Valenti is featured in the Emmy Award-winning ESPN 30-for-30 film “Big Shot.”