This is turning into the summer of the fashion crowd running into trouble with the law.
Last week, a major drug bust went down in Ralph Lauren’s tony New Canaan, CT store. The stock manager, 34-year-old Ricky Sullins, was arrested for accepting a FedEx package loaded with 14 pounds of marijuana. FedEx contacted the police before delivering the package since they could smell the drugs through the box and an undercover cop posed as the delivery man.
Oddly enough, though, New Canaan’s citizens remained blissfully unaware this weekend. They had no idea the store was involved in the bust since local police chose not to mention the high profile merchant’s involvement in their press release.
As a result the local paper New Canaan Advertiser, which prints weekly on Thursday, didn’t report the store name in their print edition. It looks like Ralph, who is frequently seen strolling the town’s tree lined streets, might have a fan in the New Canaan PD. When asked about this, the town police spokesperson said that they often leave merchants’ names out of their reports.
Instead, it took an out-of-town court reporter from the Stamford Advocate, working on a tip that the Ralph Lauren store had been the recipient of a huge amount of marijuana, for the story to come out. Reporting two days later, in what amounts to an almost comical display of criminal activity, he tells us a successful bust might have never been discovered if the Fed Ex driver hadn’t smelled the pot in his truck and turned it over to the Stamford undercover narcotics group.
The odd thing is the package wasn’t even addressed to anyone who works in the store, but Sullins accepted it anyway. Sullins claims he is innocent and didn’t know what was in the package.
Stamford police told Fashionista the case isn’t over yet. They’re continuing their questioning of the Ralph Lauren staff, asking whether or not the basement on New Canaan’s Elm Street was used in other drug deals and how much they knew about their shipping manager’s involvement with the drugs. Staffers wouldn’t reveal any information, as they had been given directives from corporate to remain quiet on the matter. But today Fashionista got an unnamed salesgirl in the store to admit Ricky Sullins, released on bail last week, still has his job there.
New Canaan Police, who are working with the Stamford expert narcotics team, said they are keeping an eye on the store and that the investigation is ongoing.
New Canaan’s Sgt. Carol Ogrinc said this was the largest drug bust she’d seen in her twenty-one years serving the town. The New Canaan Advertiser has since updated their story online, including a photograph of the stash.
—TERI BUHL
posted by Jean Voltaire
Jul 27, 2009 4:14PM
Okay! Since when does Fashionista get involved in such matters? You guys make me laugh.