Liquor-looting ladies pepper spray, bite their way through Seattle booze crime spree

SEATTLE -- A group of brazen women thieves are going to great lengths to steal booze from liquor stores in the area.

Police said they’ve been terrorizing liquor store employees across Seattle and using pepper spray, and even their teeth, to make their getaway.

“When people like this come in and steal, it hurts us, it hurts our community. This is, you know, it’s gotta end,” Dolly Amend, manager of Capco Beverages in West Seattle, said Friday. “It hurts you physically. It’s been two months and I still have her teeth marks in my thumb.”

Amend said the same group of women barge into the store every few months and start tossing bottles of booze into their own bags.

“They seem to be escalating,” said Amend.

Employees said the liquor-looters have hit Capco three times in the past year and a half; the latest heist happened in June.

“It’s fairly horrifying,” said Capco employee Jane Schmidt. “Most shoplifters have the grace to be embarrassed and sneaky. These girls are just, yeah -- they want what they want and they’ll mess you up in the process if you get in their way.”



But it’s not only happening in West Seattle. Across town at Esquin, police say employees chased the same group of woman out of the store and were met with a giant dose of pepper spray. Two employees were injured.

Cops say the ringleader is 21-year-old Zaniyah Nikia Holston of Seattle. Amend says Holston was also pregnant during one of the heists.

“This is what they do for a living,” said Amend. “She was wearing a tight red dress, 7 or 8 months pregnant.”

An arrest warrant has been issued for Holston. Police believe she’s responsible for several commercial robberies in and outside of Seattle.

If you know where police can find Zaniyah Holston, call an anonymous tip into:

CRIME STOPPERS: 1-800-222-TIPS

You must call the Crime Stoppers hotline with your tip to be eligible to receive a cash reward for information leading to a fugitive’s arrest.

Click here for information on how to text a tip to Crime Stoppers.