Thieves unsuccessfully target retail store recovering from looting

BOSTON — A popular South End streetwear store was smashed again less than two weeks after being cleaned out by looters.

Laced, located at 426 Mass Ave., suffered more than $75,000 in losses during the night of looting that rocked dozens of businesses after protests on May 31st.

In yet another smash-and-grab at 1:43 a.m. Wednesday, two alleged thieves were captured in minutes with by Boston Police.

Surveillance footage shows the suspects using a rock to shatter a glass panel of Laced before grabbing merchandise in closest reach.

“Immediately, when I got the alarm, I’m like not again do I have to deal with this,” said owner Joamil Rodriguez. “But this had nothing to do with any protests.”

Rodriguez applauds Boston Police officers with D-4 for responding immediately and capturing the pair in separate locations along Mass Ave.

Police recovered all of the stolen merchandise, quickly returning it to Rodriguez.

John Precourt, 43, of Boston, and Alelia Whalen, 30, of Wilmington, are each charged with breaking and entering of a building nighttime for felony and larceny of a building. Precourt also faces a charge of malicious destruction of property.

“We went from being boarded up to not sure when we could take the boards off,” said Rodriguez. “It was so symbolic to take them off and get over the fear of, are we going to get broken into again?”

Laced had just reopened its doors to customers on Monday for the first time since the pandemic forced it to close.

Rodriguez told Boston 25 News this latest incident proves destructive crimes toward businesses can be committed by anyone.

Instead of being angry, he’s been using his platform to empathize with youth in the community and supporting peaceful protests happening across the city and nation.

“We’re not a victim here, this is a much bigger picture and what we want to do is make sure we can make light of this,” said Rodriguez. “We’re not looking for sympathy. We want to be part of the change.”

Rodriguez just opened a fourth location of Laced at the Burlington mall on Thursday. He said he will not be knocked down or discouraged.

“I’m not going to tell you I have all the answers, but I am open minded to working with others,” said Rodriguez. “Laced was built on a foundation of youth and culture, and we need to give back to that culture.”

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