Ho Ho Hope Shoplifters Don’t Walk off with Your Merchandise?

December 1, 2014 by Leave a Comment

shoplifting1Shoplifters love this time of year. There are more people in the stores to help conceal their nefarious activities. There is also great new merchandise and a wide selection, plenty of stock in depth helps them also. What can you do?

Many of you are our customers already and have Checkpoint Systems and also utilize Alpha High Theft Solutions’ products. Unlike your unprotected neighbors, you have a serious advantage to control the thieves. The advantage for you is that your neighbors’ unprotected store merchandise is like a magnet to the shoplifters. When presented with equal valued merchandise that is protected by Checkpoint and Alpha or not protected, the shoplifter will certainly go after the unprotected merchandise.

As a Loss Prevention Systems customer who has purchased your system through us, purchases labels or tags or have PM agreements, you are also eligible for ongoing LIVE training. Our “Shoplifting, because LOSS is a four letter word” training will prepare you and your staff to deal with the shoplifter. This training teaches you how to go on the offense with shoplifters while delighting your good customers.

Keep in mind that we suggest that you use this training for existing and new employees. Because it is live we make it interactive.  Therefore it is a great refresher or ideal for a new retail associate. We will conduct these sessions as reasonably often as you need them. Just call us to schedule.

If you are not a Loss Prevention Systems customer and are interested in this training, simply call us for pricing. We will be happy to assist you.

Shoplifting is simply a business problem that we help you deal with utilizing business proven, commercial grade solutions and techniques provided by professionals that know shoplifting. As the founder and CEO of Loss Prevention Systems, I have dealt with shoplifters all the way from apprehending them during my store detective days to the Board room. With a degree in Industrial Security and over 35 years of experience personally, we are there for our customers. LPSI’s commitment goes on long after the sale.
Our shoplifting training covers:
-The law in your state
-Who is the shoplifter?
-How to spot a shoplifter
-How to go on the offense with them while providing a great atmosphere for your good customers
-What to do and not to do, if you have to confront a shoplifter
-And much more.

It is not too late to get on the schedule. Call today!

Have a great and prosperous holiday selling season!

Filed Under: Featured Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , ,

High Profile Cases

November 6, 2014 by Leave a Comment

shoplifting7A high profile, professional athlete was arrested recently for shoplifting. Allegedly, he paid for a bottle of cologne and then proceeded to the menswear department. He placed a few packages of underwear in his shopping bag. At the point of his apprehension, he was also found to have a “tester” bottle of cologne in his bag (unpaid for) as well. He is not the first athlete/ celebrity to be caught shoplifting, and most certainly will not be the last.

A similar situation would include a shoplifter who is related to (or claims to be related to) a high profile personality. It is a frequently used tactic that a shoplifter will try to intimidate their accusers by name-dropping congressmen, chief or police, celebrity, etc. More often than not, these claims are unfounded, or play no significant role in an investigation. For the few times that the claims are true, your store will have more to contend with than the loss of merchandise.

These high profile shoplifters do not steal out of need. They clearly have the money to pay for such items. They are stealing out of boredom, entitlement, or simply because they are looking for a challenge- to see if they can get away with it. Their crimes are not necessarily expensive items; sometimes it can be simple items like underwear, health and beauty items, even food items. This means that it is not improbable that a celebrity can shoplift from a small, local store.

That being said, it is not a common occurrence for a store to experience a shoplifting incident by a high profile person. It is merely a fact to keep in mind while you are making shoplifting apprehensions. You never know whom you might be picking up, so it is best to make sure your policies, practices and actions are completely by the book for each incident.

After making an apprehension, the suspect might try to bully their way out of the situation by telling you who they are, or who their relations are. This is the time to be professional, avoid making sarcastic or snarky comments and stick to the facts. If they truly are a high profile personality, every little step may be dissected and criticized later on. The media outlets will inevitably catch wind of the apprehension and will try to make it a bigger story that what it needs to be.

You can be faced with news reporters, bloggers, fans, etc coming into your store. Some will just look around to see the now infamous store. Others will come in and try to make trouble- asking questions, making comments, even potentially making threats.

I worked loss prevention for a retailer, who many years ago made an apprehension of a very famous actress. Even though the case was air tight, national news sources hovered throughout the entire process. Statements had to be made to ensure the integrity of our company’s reputation remained in tact. At the same time, it was very important that our own legal team was involved to make sure we did not overstep the legal boundaries of an open court case. If for some reason the apprehending officer made statements to the media, and the case was lost in court, we could have had potentially disastrous civil liability cases brought against us by the actress. On the day the verdict from her criminal trial was to be released, every one of our stores across the country received numerous threatening phone calls. Some merely threatened to never shop with us again if “we” found the actress guilty of shoplifting. Others had more severe threats of violence.

With the increased chance of media scrutiny during a high profile shoplifting incident, retailers can often find themselves faced with more variables and consequences than what was anticipated for a seemingly routine shoplifting apprehension. Without black and white policies in place, the added liability from a case gone wrong can have devastating and lasting consequences both to a retailer’s image, and their financial bottom line.

Filed Under: Featured Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , ,

Should They Stay, Or Should They Go?

October 2, 2014 by Leave a Comment

shoplifting5When you or your employees apprehend a shoplifter, you will need to make one of two choices as to what to do with them. You can either recover your merchandise and let the shoplifter go about their way, or you can take the shoplifter back to an office or other neutral location within your store. Both have their advantages, and both have potentially negative outcomes if not conducted properly.

The easiest thing to do is to retrieve your merchandise from the shoplifter and let them go. No muss, no fuss, and no lengthy apprehension process to deal with. You will need to document the incident and keep the report in a secured location. You need to document the time and date, the description of the suspect, what merchandise (include item numbers or UPC codes) was taken and recovered. Any video of the incident should be retained, and a photo of the merchandise should be taken also. Notate what happened to the merchandise- is it being kept as evidence, or was it returned to the sales floor after being photographed.

Don’t underestimate that a shoplifter will try and come back and sue your store for false detention and liable. They may assume that because you did not prosecute that you did not have enough evidence, which is why you let them go. Even if they were to loose the case (because you had everything well documented) you can still fight with your store’s reputation if the media gets involved, or simply the time and money it will cost you to fight the charges.

Of course this is assuming that the shoplifter stopped and willingly handed over the stolen merchandise they were carrying. If the shoplifter runs, fights, or is problematic, it might not be easy to recover your merchandise. Similarly, if the merchandise is hidden within a bag, or on the shoplifter’s body somewhere, you cannot go searching for it to get it back- especially if the shoplifter is denying having stolen anything.

If you do bring a shoplifter back to your office, you should do so with purpose. Do you need to recover product in a bag? The shoplifter will still need to hand it over to you; you may not search their personal belongings. If the suspect has hidden merchandise on their person, you may not make them disrobe to retrieve your merchandise. That is something that absolutely should be left for law enforcement to do.

Once back in the office, your witness should be taking notes as to what is being said, and what transpires. The shoplifter’s ID should be obtained and photocopied (as proof of who was stopped). You may question the suspect to find out why they are taking product from you and what were they going to do with it later. This is particularly important if you are experiencing multiple losses of the same products. Keep in mind that they may not talk to you, and they are not required to talk to you. You may not force them or coerce them into confessions or into giving up more information.

Your company should have a set policy on who is prosecuted and who is not (also why not). Commonly, elderly, young children or minors, and mentally disabled are not prosecuted. Generally it is because these categories of people do not have the mental capacity to distinguish right from wrong. Prosecutions and referrals to law enforcement should have standardization to them. This way, employees won’t need to make a personal judgment call on who is prosecuted and who is not.

Finally, keep you back office area, or where ever you will bring shoplifters to, clean. There should not be anything large or heavy (staplers, three hole punches, scissors) that can be turned into a weapon. This area should also be relatively remote. It should not be an area where customers and other employees can walk by. The suspect has a right to their privacy during the apprehension. They should not feel like they are out on display.

Filed Under: Featured Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,

Training Your Witness

October 2, 2014 by Leave a Comment

shoplifting7When apprehending a shoplifter, you need to make sure that all employees are aware of what their roles are and what they are responsible for doing. You should use job positions as a basis for who is responsible for what. For example, you might determine that only managers are allowed to make shoplifting apprehensions. You might qualify any employee who has gone through loss prevention training can make shoplifting apprehensions. Determine your skill level and staffing requirements to determine what makes the most sense for your stores.

The next step is training employees to be a witness during a shoplifting apprehension. Most loss prevention training revolves around identifying and detaining a shoplifter. Having a witness and defining what that witness can and cannot do is often overlooked. Unfortunately, it is very easy for a witness, who is not properly trained, to do more damage during the actual apprehension than they provide a benefit.

Even when an employee is only a witness, they are still acting in an official capacity as a representative of your company. If these employees were to make comments of take actions that are illegal or improper, the company can still be held liable for those actions. As a result, any employee who will potentially be called upon to act as a witness should be thoroughly trained prior to their involvement in any shoplifting detentions.

A witness is anyone who will assist a trained employee that making a shoplifting apprehension. The witness really needs to be another store employee. Using a customer as a witness is not advisable. Customers might take it upon themselves to exert undue force, or to make derogatory comments. A customer, no matter how well meaning their intentions may be, does not understand what their legal limitations are during the situation, and the store will still be held liable for any of their actions.

A witness should have a basic understanding of what a shoplifting apprehension is, and why it is happening. They do not need to be intimately aware of the actual sequence of events. They do need to understand they are there to provide an eyewitness to the detention and any questioning that may follow.

The witness should also provide a balance for the shoplifter. If a female is being apprehended, there needs to be a female employee involved in the apprehension. This can either be the employee who is detaining the suspect, or the witness. Same rules apply if the suspect is a male. To avoid a possible (warranted or not) sexual assault or harassment suit there always needs to be an employee present that is of the same gender as the shoplifting suspect.

Ideally, the same witnesses needs to be present from the time of detention to the time the shoplifter is either released on their own, or into the custody of law enforcement. Since the witness might be required to give a statement to the events, it is easier if only one person is there from start to finish. Having a replacement during the middle might provide unnecessary confusion as to who saw which part of the apprehension, and did some pertinent information get missed during the switch from one witness to the other.

Once the employees have made their initial approach for the detention, and have brought the shoplifter back to the office or room to do the interview, the witness needs to be in charge of documenting the incident. They should start by documenting what time the approach was made, what time the suspect entered the office and what has been said up to this point. Specifically, the suspect’s comments upon the initial approach should be quoted accurately. Did they deny it? Did they admit to stealing? What happened next? Was there a chase or a physical altercation? Did the suspect come back peacefully?

Any statements made or given need to be notated. The final disposition of the suspect and the evidence needs to be made. If law enforcement was called the time the call was placed, and the time they arrived should be documented. Above all else, the witness needs to realize they are there to assist and not to interfere with the investigation and apprehension of the shoplifting suspect.

 

 

Filed Under: Featured Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,

Managing and Reducing Shrinkage

October 1, 2014 by Leave a Comment

theft (11)The retail industry according to some reports was a $2.5 trillion in 2012 with a predicted increase of 3.4% for the year 2013. As the busiest season for the retail industry is fast approaching, retail stores and businesses will be busy keeping inventory on the shelves as avid customers shop at their stores. While many retail stores prepare for this time, retail security and surveillance should be part of their strategy to keep this year the best profitable yet.

For more information about shrinkage follow the links below.

Reducing Retail Shrinkage: How to Beef Up Security and Prevent Loss in Your Store

Shrinkage (aka: Public Enemy #1 for most retailers), can eat up a significant amount of your profits. According to the National Retail Federation, retail shrinkage amounted to $34.5 billion in 2011, and a big chunk of that was due to theft or fraud.

That’s why it’s critical to constantly stay on top of protecting your store. Keep your systems up-to-date, be vigilant about spotting fishy behavior, and see to it that your staff is adequately trained to deal with security issues.

To help you do all that, below are some of the most common causes of retail shrinkage along with security tips to help you prevent them.

Shoplifting

A common problem among retailers, you can prevent shoplifting with the following steps:

1. Recognize the signs – Educate yourself and your staff on how to spot shoplifters. Keep an eye out for people who:

Survey: Retail shrink translates into $57 billion loss; cash theft jumps 20%

New York — Shrinkage levels average 1.27% of sales, which translates to a $57 billion loss to the industry, according to the U.S. Retail Fraud Survey, which is based on research into the systems and strategies used by 100 leading North American retailers.

The biggest area of store loss remains employee theft (38% of shrink), up 3% from last year, according to the study, published by U.K. based Retail Knowledge and sponsored by Volumatic and Kount. It is followed by cash theft (24%), up 20% from last year, administration and book keeping errors (21%), down 9%, and shoplifting (11%), down 15%.

The biggest area of online loss is fraudulent use of credit cards (59% of shrink).

In other survey highlights:

• Return fraud is costing retailers an average of 0.25% of sales this year, compared with an average of 0.4% last year.

• With regards to loss prevention departments, on average, each member of the fraud prevention team is responsible for $103 million of sales.

Managing Loss Prevention

5 Tips for Reducing Shrink

1. Find vulnerabilities: Take a look at your store layout as though it were in a heist film and think, “If I were to steal something, how would I do it?”
2. Determine where to concentrate your resources: Your high value items that can be stolen easily should be of more concern for you when merchandising, as well as protecting with security features.
3. Cameras don’t work unless you use them: Installing cameras isn’t enough to deter employees and serial shoplifters. If you notice discrepancies in the register or on the shelves, look at the tape.
4. Signs deter some, not others: Professional thieves aren’t likely to care much about signs (or cameras for that matter). However, employees and amateur shoplifters can be dissuaded if they know they are being watched.
5. Talk to your team: Employees need to be on the same page as their manager when it comes to a loss prevention strategy. Source: retailminded.com

 

 

Filed Under: Shoplifting Prevention Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Racial Profiling In the Retail Industry

September 24, 2014 by Leave a Comment

shoplifting4According to The National Association for Shoplifting Prevention “There is no profile of a typical shoplifter. Men and women shoplift about equally as often.” And race does not matter. Men, women, teenagers and children shoplift regardless of their race or economic status. Yet, entering a store race does matter, and profiling takes place immediately. Allegations about racial profiling involving Macy’s is one of the most recent news in this country, but it won’t be the last.

To read more about racial profiling in the retail industry follow the links below for more information.

“There are very few African-American men in this country who haven’t had the experience of being followed when they were shopping in a department store. That includes me.”

                                                                                President Barack Obama

Racial Profiling
How does it make you feel when you hear the President of the United States making these remarks? Is it an accurate statement? Is it a fair statement? Is it a reflection of one man’s opinion, or an indictment of the loss prevention industry as a whole? Regardless of your personal politics, a statement made with such conviction from the leader of our country sends a powerful message—and one that deserves our collective attention.

But when the comments were made by the President and repeated over and over by the press following the Trayvon Martin verdict, the implications were accepted by the general public with very little push-back. Why is that? If it’s a valid assessment, why hasn’t it been addressed more aggressively? If it’s not a valid assessment, why haven’t we been more forward or vocal in our objections? More likely, the general response—or lack thereof—is largely a product of many factors that can complicate the subject and lead us down difficult roads. Have we done enough? Do we need to do more? It is a highly sensitive topic, but it’s one that’s not going to go away or can be buried in the sand.

Macy’s reaches agreement over racial profiling allegations

Macy’s, Inc. today issued the following statement: “Macy’s has reached resolution with the New York State Office of the Attorney General related to allegations of racial profiling in our stores in New York. We also have settled in principle various lawsuits related to these allegations.

“To be clear, our company’s policies strictly prohibit any form of discrimination or racial profiling and any occurrence of such behavior will not be tolerated in our organization.

“Moving forward, our company will be initiating a series of measures including enhanced training and education for our loss prevention and sales associates. We also will be adopting an expanded role for our security monitor to help ensure that we have the right policies and procedures in place, and that we are constantly reviewing our compliance with them.

“We at Macy’s are committed to fulfilling to the ideals of diversity, inclusion and respect that our company aspires to achieve – every day, in every store and office, with every customer and associate.

Racial Profiling

Does Profiling Exist?

The media often asks me if retail store security personnel use “profiling” tactics as a means of determining which customers are most likely to steal. The answer is undeniably, yes.

Profiling is a Tool

The concept of shoplifter profiling is a proven loss prevention tool and is currently being practiced in most major retail stores by trained loss prevention or security staff. Does that seem shocking? It shouldn’t, as long as it doesn’t include the discriminatory practice of focusing on the race of the customer alone. Profiling is used everyday as a method for quickly focusing in on a person, a product line or a section of a store most likely to contribute to shoplifting. All investigative agencies including the police, FBI, and others have used profiling as a tool to narrow the field of possible suspects. Why shouldn’t retail store security be able to do the same? Store and customer profiles are developed during day-to-day operation and by collecting and analyzing inventory data. This data provides both a quantitative and a qualitative basis for determining where, when, how, and by whom shoplifting is likely to occur in the future.

Filed Under: Shoplifting Prevention Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Funny Shoplifting Dog’s Video

September 9, 2014 by Leave a Comment

Shoplifting Dog Arrested After Dollar Store Heist

During a walk, Cato the Husky got off the leash and then later was arrested for stealing dog treats, bones, and pig ears from Clinton, South Carolina’s Dollar General Store. Police have opted not to press charges, and he was returned to his owner after a brief stint in the pound. Luckily, FOX Carolina was on the scene and obtained the store’s security camera footage of the theft in action. If you’d like to see more footage of Cato and his shoplifting, go here: http://www.foxcarolina.com/story/24152659/shoplifting-sc-husky-caught-red-pawed

Filed Under: Shoplifting Prevention Tagged With: ,

When There Are Children Involved

September 5, 2014 by Leave a Comment

theft (10)When we think about shoplifters and creating policies on what how to apprehend them, and what to do with them during and after the initial confrontation, we are doing so with a general image in mind. We are acting on an image of an adult shoplifter, who may or may not become physically aggressive. What many owners and managers frequently overlook is what to do when there are children involved during the shoplifting incident.

There is a sad reality that many shoplifting situations do involve children. Sometimes it is actually the children (or minors under the age of 18) that are the ones stealing. Sometimes it is adults- parents, caregivers, relatives- that bring children along while the adult is stealing. In some very unfortunate examples, the adults might actually be teaching and encouraging the children to steal for them.

As a result, policies and procedures should be in place to account for these situations. If you are trying to figure out what to do while the incident is already underway, you can end up in serious trouble if you make the wrong judgment call. So here is a quick overview of how to handle some of these situations.

What to do if a shoplifter is a child/ minor under 18 years of age? Start by determining if there is a responsible party somewhere in the store. This needs to be someone over the age of 18 that can oversee custody of the child. It should be a parent or guardian of some sort. A minor babysitter, older sibling, or friend is not who you want.

Next step is to use your best judgment for the shoplifter’s intent. A four year old taking a candy bar has less criminal intent than a seventeen year old stealing a pair of jeans. Determine from there if you are calling the police to prosecute. Ideally any juvenile in your custody should be released to either a parent or guardian, or the police within thirty minutes or less. Always have a witness present when you have a child in your custody. Never release a child out on their own, as you can be held liable if they are hurt, etc after leaving your store.

If the shoplifter is an adult, and they have children present, decide if you are calling the police or not. If you are prosecuting the adult, make sure the local law enforcement are aware that there are children present. They will need to make special arrangements for those children. While the adult shoplifter is in your custody, under no circumstances should the children be separated from that adult.

Filed Under: Featured Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,

Apple Store and Iphone theft

August 19, 2014 by Leave a Comment

theft (12)All across the country carrying a smart phone is like carrying cash in your hands.   Many thieves consider a smart phone as easy to steal as snatching a purse from an unsuspected woman. Lost and stolen phones are costing the American consumer millions of dollar a year according to some recent research and according to some news smart phone theft is happening at stores as well.

Follow the links below for more information about this and other stories.

Six Apple Store employees nabbed in iPhone theft ring

Sometimes it is those on the inside that you need to be worried about the most. In Fort Lauderdale, six Apple Store employees were snagged by the cops, as law enforcement smashed an iPhone theft ring that worked out of an Apple Store at the tony Galleria Mall. The six worked together to rip off the store out of 600 iPhones, valued at half a million dollars.
The scheme involved a number of thieves who wandered into the Apple Store, pretending to be customers. In the store, these “customers” would be helped by one of the six employees in on the scam, who would exchange a stolen iPhone for a brand new unit. The Apple Store employees who helped the transactions go through, were paid between $45 and $75 per unit for facilitating the exchange.

The cops arrested former Apple Store employees Devon Persad, Daniel Michael Scotti, Adam Alvarez, Anthony Joseph Tranchida, Sadia A. Dandia, and Otis Jerrell Ferguson. A seventh person arrested was Best Buy Mobile employee Sean Flynn. Flynn provided a list of serial numbers from smartphones on the shelves at Best Buy Mobile, to the other criminals. These numbers were used on the new iPhone models stolen from the Apple Store.

The cops are looking to identify those who brought the stolen phones into the Apple Store. They are also still looking to find the buyers of the new units that the stolen phones were exchanged for. A Broward Country prosecutor says that the phones were probably sold overseas.

Ex-Fairfax Deputy Headed To Trial On Shoplifting Charges

The case of the Fairfax County deputy charged with shoplifting at the Leesburg Target store will go to trial.

Robert H. Palmer Jr., 50, of Leesburg, appeared in Loudoun General District Court Tuesday morning. Judge J. Frank Buttery Jr. set a trial date for Sept. 23.

Palmer has been charged with two counts of petit larceny under $200, a Class 1 misdemeanor that carries a sentence of up to 12 months in jail and a fine of up to $2,500.

The case, first reported in May, gained national attention after Dallas Northington told The Washington Post he was fired as an assets protection specialist for Target after reporting two incidents of apparent shoplifting in which the suspect shown on surveillance tape was recognized by his superiors as Palmer, who’s worked for the Fairfax County Sheriff’s Office for 20 years.

Northington said he filed a complaint with the Leesburg Police Department as he did routinely in such cases. However, days later he was fired, told by his managers at Target that he had not followed company procedures.

Following the publication of Northington’s story, the Leesburg Police Department released a statement July 14 about its involvement in the case. According to the department, the initial complaint was filed at approximately 11 p.m. Tuesday, May 27. “The report was documented however, the reporting loss prevention officer did not witness the actual theft,” it said. During that investigation, “the individual involved in the alleged theft was positively identified as a Fairfax Sheriff’s Office employee.” On May 30, Leesburg investigators notified members of the Fairfax sheriff’s office about the report.

There the case stalled.

Mother leaves kids in store after shoplifting

Published on Aug 15, 2014

DELAND, Fla. (WKRC) — A Florida mother’s attempt at shoplifting ended with her running from police and leaving her children behind.

Deland, Florida police said Rebecca Stoltz went shopping at Wal-Mart with her 6-year-old daughter and 9-year-old stepdaughter. When she allegedly tried stealing $44 of clothes, she got caught by security. In the panic of getting caught, police said Stoltz ran from the store and left her children behind.

Other parents shopping at the store said they were outraged.

Police said store security found the girls and they were both, “Clearly distressed and very emotional and both were crying.” Investigators said Stoltz knew what she did because she told a friend to go pick the children up from the store.

Police eventually arrested Stoltz who faces child abuse charges.

Follow us on Twitter @Local12 and LIKE us on Facebook for updates!

Filed Under: Shoplifting Prevention Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

The Face of a Shoplifter

August 15, 2014 by Leave a Comment

theft (8)Winona Ryder is probably one of the most famous celebrities that were caught stealing and prosecuted for shoplifting. Lindsay Lohan the most recent one was also prosecuted for shoplifting. Although shoplifting is a crime and you can be charged and prosecuted, many people neglect to impart the importance that shoplifting deserves. Who is the shoplifter you may ask? From celebrities to news anchors and candidates for the senate, shoplifting affects many people, and the financial ramifications of this crime affect many people in the retail industry and local economies every year.

If You Want To Keep Your Job As A News Anchor, Don’t Get Caught Shoplifting

As celebs like Wynona Ryder have demonstrated, you can get caught shoplifting and still go on to have a decent career in the public eye. Perhaps Ryder’s redemption tale will give some hope to a California news woman who has resigned her local anchoring gig after being charged with shoplifting.

Sabrina Rodriguez had been with FOX40 in Sacramento since 2011, but police allege that in early 2013 she began helping her fiance steal from stores and fence those shoplifted items.

Texts from the fiance to Rodriguez show him discussing the alleged theft of expensive sweaters and purses from stores like BCBG. One text in response to the fiance reads, “Awesome. I love when a plan comes together.”

Then in March 2014, the fiance was reportedly spotted on camera leaving a Coach store with wallets he did not pay for. Rodriguez admitted to being in the store with her fiance but denied being involved in any theft.

However, police claim that security camera footage shows Rodriguez pointing out wallets to her fiance before he puts them into his bag.

Ariz. family accused of shoplifting $15K worth of clothes

Police arrested five people in Phoenix on charges of shoplifting more than $15,000 worth of clothes from different retailers — and it’s the suspects’ relationship that’s making headlines.
ABC reports that the police say the suspects are from the same family. As FOX NEWS says, the family that shoplifts together is arrested together.

Officials from the Phoenix Police Department say that the suspects had worked together to steal clothes, mostly lingerie, from retailers starting as far back as November of last year.

Officers arrested them Friday in their home where they found clothing items with tags and security devices still attached. Police say that the family used the stolen items to trade for drugs or to sell in yard sales held almost weekly.

Store Employees Help Catch Shoplifting Suspect 

A shoplifter didn’t get far when he tried to steal from a Rapid City hardware store.

Ace Hardware employees noticed Keith Ericson push a cart of merchandise out of the store without paying.  They tried to stop him as he loaded the items into the back of a truck being driven by his wife.  She started to drive away as Keith jumped in the bed of the truck, but he fell out before they got out of the parking lot.  When Dianna Ericson got out of the truck to help him, a witness grabbed the keys so that the couple couldn’t drive away.

Police say Keith is also a suspect in the theft of four drills from Walmart.  He’s charged with theft and possession of drug paraphernalia.  Dianna is charged with DUI and driving with a suspended license.

Filed Under: Shoplifting Prevention Tagged With: , , , , , ,
« Previous Page
Next Page »