Kent woman gets 33 months for retail theft from Lululemon stores

A 25-year-old woman, arrested in 2024 at a Kent home, received a prison sentence of two years and nine months for her role in Bellevue organized retail crime cases stealing women’s clothing from Lululemon stores.

King County Superior Court Judge Cindi Port sentenced Janeice Renee Downs to 33 months on Aug. 22 at the King County Courthouse in Seattle, according to court documents. Downs pleaded guilty as charged Aug. 7 to four counts of first-degree organized retail theft, one count of second-degree organized retail theft, one count of first-degree theft and one count of first-degree trafficking in stolen property for a total of seven criminal counts.

Prosecutors requested a sentence of 38 months, agreed to as part of the guilty pleas by Downs, as the sentencing range set by state lawmakers was 33 months to 43 months. Prior to these convictions, Downs had at least nine convictions for theft, assault, robbery and other crimes between 2013 and 2018.

Bellevue Police, with the assistance of Valley SWAT and Tukwila Police, raided a Kent home April 9, 2024 in the 9300 block of South 223rd Street and arrested Downs and her mother, Janeice Renee Wiley, for a retail crime spree primarily at Lululemon stores in Western Washington, according to court documents. The store features activewear, loungewear and footwear.

Wiley also faces an organized retail theft charge filed by King County prosecutors, according to court records. She has a court hearing Aug. 25 and a trial date of Sept. 29.

As part of her sentence, Downs must not have any contact with Lululemon stores for 10 years in King, Pierce and Whatcom counties. She committed thefts at stores in all three counties.

The thefts occurred between August 2023 and April 2024, according to court documents. The thefts started on Aug. 8, 2023 at Lululemon at Bellevue Square and continued at that same location a few more times. The value of the merchandise taken during each of the thefts ranged from $4,600 to $13,535, according to court documents.

The women reportedly would sell the stolen clothing to make thousands of dollars.

Detectives tracked down phone conversations between Downs and an inmate at the King County jail when the inmate complained about not making any money in two weeks after Downs said she hadn’t made money in two days, according to charging papers.

“In two weeks we would have made at least 30K,” Downs said.

On March 20, 2024 Lululemon’s Regional Organized Retail Crime investigator for Washington and Oregon contacted a Bellevue Police detective, accusing Downs and her accomplices of stealing thousands of dollars of merchandise. The investigator had documented cases since August 2023, most of it caught on video that reportedly showed the women stuffing clothing into bags and exiting the stores without paying.

They typically used vehicles that did not have license plates or that were purchased using fraudulent documents, according to police.

Bellevue Police used video and cellphone records to help connect Downs to the thefts. Cellphone records indicated she was in the vicinity of all the thefts, according to charging papers.

Detectives also used cellphone records to track Downs to Kent, based on where her cellphone showed her location in the late evenings and early mornings. The detective went to that block number and saw a purple Dodge Challenger and black Cadillac coupe parked, two of the vehicles used in retail thefts, according to court documents. Cars were parked in the driveway of a single family residence in the 9300 block of South 223rd Place. Downs and Wiley had rented the home since at least February 2024. The detective observed Downs leaving the house.

When police executed a search warrant on the house, three rifles were found as well as clothing reportedly worn during the thefts. Downs and Wiley were not allowed to possess guns because of previous felony convictions.