6 Women Wanted for Swiping $24K in Phones From Maryland Verizon Store

A six-woman smokescreen shorted a Maryland Verizon store of $24,000 in phones, police say.

Video shows the women, all wearing long skirts, walk into the store at 299 Copley Place in Gaithersburg, Maryland, two at a time on July 18. One woman carries a child on her hip. Another young child comes in with the last pair of women and appears to twirl and play while they browse the store.

Police say the women distracted employees by asking them for help.

Meanwhile, a woman who appeared to be pregnant went into an open storage room and loaded up cell phones, police said. In about one minute, she took 29 phones, police said.

Police say she was likely pretending to be pregnant so that she could use her billowy skirt to hide the phones.

As she came out of the room, an employee confronted her about what she was doing and the other women "overwhelmed" the employee before they all left the store, police said.

The women took off in a dark-colored minivan.