Stores continue to close in Democrat led cities due to crime

[basballguy]

(09-29-2023, 12:04 AM)NATI BENGALS Wrote: https://www.news9.com/story/5e3473bc527dcf49dad70666/grocery-store-closing-in-ne-oklahoma-city

Oklahoma City grocery store closure

https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/natural-grocers-announces-the-closure-of-two-dallas-fort-worth-area-stores-301816519.html

Fort Worth grocery store closure

They closed a kroger by me years back. It wasn’t because of the elected officials.

Bro those store closures for natural grocer are not crime related lol. Keller and that part of north Fort Worth has probably some of the lowest crime rates in the country.

It’s just not a good grocery store :). They all out shopping at Central Market and Trader Joe’s.

Then you got one in Preston Hollow which is where all the Uber rich live. The Richardson location I don’t know all that well so I can’t speak to that.

I guess I should’ve clarified my comment to say “stores closing to crime in red cities”…..these are definitely not it

[NATI BENGALS]

(09-29-2023, 12:15 AM)basballguy Wrote: Bro those store closures for natural grocer are not crime related lol.  Keller and that part of north Fort Worth has probably some of the lowest crime rates in the country.  

It’s just not a good grocery store :). They all out shopping at Central Market and Trader Joe’s.  

Then you got one in Preston Hollow which is where all the Uber rich live.  The Richardson location I don’t know all that well so I can’t speak to that.

I guess I should’ve clarified my comment to say “stores closing to crime in red cities”…..these are definitely not it

I'd be willing to guess there is a "bad part of town" in most cities in America. And most of those have had a business shut down due to being in an area that is not good for business.

[SunsetBengal]

(09-28-2023, 06:02 PM)Millhouse Wrote: You ever see those viral videos of some of those streets in Philly? My goodness, it's insane actually. They resemble something of a poor 3rd world country.

Compounding the problem is that they are right back out there on the streets, free to continue wreaking havok.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/companies/philly-looting-suspects-quickly-return-to-streets-under-soros-backed-da-s-cashless-bail-system/ar-AA1hpCZU?ocid=msedgntp&cvid=a9d3fa0d66ea48a0b1c847dbe3b9c811&ei=37

Quote:Nearly half of the individuals booked on charges stemming from their alleged participation in Philadelphia’s Tuesday night looting spree were allowed to walk free on zero bail within 24 hours of their arrest, police records show.


Police arrested 52 individuals after at least 100 rioters descended on downtown Philadelphia, looting 28 stores including Apple and Lululemon, WIO News, a local news network, reported. Police allowed 14 of the 30 people charged to walk free because of the city’s zero-bail policy for certain crimes, according to records from the Pennsylvania Judicial System. 

“Our administration will continue to work with our public safety partners to increase officer presence and ensure the safety of all our residents and businesses,” Democratic Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney wrote in a tweet on Wednesday. “To anyone planning to participate in criminal activity, please know: there will be consequences.”


Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner eliminated cash bail for certain crimes in 2018 shortly after his initial election, NBC10 Philadelphia reported. Krasner has since advocated to completely remove the city’s bail system and vowed to continue reducing the number of offenses that would receive cash bail when he ran for re-election in 2022, his campaign website shows.

“The cash ball system is rife with injustice and exacerbates socio-economic and racial inequalities, disproportionately penalizing the poor and people of color,” a document published by Krasner’s office in 2018 claimed. “[Reforms] represent a decisive step toward ending the use of cash bail and making the pretrial system more just.”
Although the policy allows for “discretion,” it removed cash bail for offenses including retail theft, trespassing, some types of burglary, “theft by unlawful taking” and resisting arrest. All of the alleged participants in the Tuesday riots who were released on zero bail had received charges for at least one of those five crimes, according to police data.

State legislators attempted to impeach the district attorney, whose 2018 campaign was backed by a PAC that received $1.45 million from George Soros, in 2022 because of the rampant crime in the city that they claimed had resulted from his soft-on-crime approach. Krasner also came under fire after he promoted public pools at a press conference as a way to fight violence even as 10 people were shot the same day he spoke with the media.

Retail theft in Philadelphia has increased 32.78% since September 2022 and total property crime has increased 21.21% over the same time period, data from the city’s police department showed.

Krasner, Kenney and the Philadelphia Police Department did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s requests for comment.

[Sociopathicsteelerfan]

(09-29-2023, 12:07 AM)NATI BENGALS Wrote: Yea I’m sure high level organized crime probably puts some thought into it.

But the majority of common petty criminals? I’m doubting it.

Dude, I literally just told you they do exactly that.  They know where the soft on crime DA's are, and are not.  This certainly does not mean that areas with a real DA have zero crime, that's silly.  What it does mean is that criminals will concentrate their crimes, and will travel to do so, in areas with a soft on crime DA.  Hence my example of smash and grab gangs being a daily occurrence in LA but rarely occurring in Orange County.

[Millhouse]

(09-29-2023, 08:06 AM)SunsetBengal Wrote: Compounding the problem is that they are right back out there on the streets, free to continue wreaking havok.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/companies/philly-looting-suspects-quickly-return-to-streets-under-soros-backed-da-s-cashless-bail-system/ar-AA1hpCZU?ocid=msedgntp&cvid=a9d3fa0d66ea48a0b1c847dbe3b9c811&ei=37

I have no doubt all those quickly released will turn a leaf and become contributing well behaved citizens.

[Mike M (the other one)]

(09-29-2023, 04:22 PM)Millhouse Wrote: I have no doubt all those quickly released will turn a leaf and become contributing well behaved citizens.

Well if their buddies got them some good shoes, they should be able to run faster next time

[GMDino]

Some interesting numbers about the closings:

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1. Last week, @Target announced it was closing 9 stores due to theft, generating an avalanche of credulous coverage from nearly every major media outlet

One thing that was missing from all these stories: DATA

So Popular Information tracked it down

?


2. Target is closing the store at 517 East 117th Street in Harlem. But according to NYPD data, there were fewer incidents of shoplifting this year at the Harlem store than other nearby stores that will remain open.


3. Target is also closing its location on Folsom Street in San Fransisco. But according to SFDP data, there were fewer incidents of shoplifting in and around that store than other nearby stores that will remain open.


4. The Seattle Times did a similar analysis of stores in the Seattle area and found there were fewer police incidents in and around the two stores being closed than other nearby stores that will remain open.


5. All of this data suggests there were other reasons beyond shoplifting driving Target's decision to close stores.

In June, Target's CEO said it was saddled with lots of unwanted merchandise that it was forced to deeply discount, cutting profits

More:

Target says it's closing 9 stores due to theft. The crime data tells a different story.On September 26, Target announced it was closing nine stores "because theft and organized retail crime are…contributing to unsustainable business performance." Target said that before making the decis…https://popular.info/p/target-says-its-closing-9-stores



6. For more accountability journalism that scrutinizes corporate PR, subscribe to Popular Information.

This platform's algorithm is controlled by a right-wing billionaire.

[Sociopathicsteelerfan]

More spin to try and distract people from the Dems failure on this issue. It doesn't matter if they're closing the stores with the most shrinkage. It matters that their overall shrinkage is to the point that they have to close stores. A store with high shrinkage can still be profitable due to volume of sales, but if overall shrinkage numbers don't allow for continued operation of all currently open locations then one of them has got to go. Which one? Well that decision is easy, the one that is the least profitable, whether it experiences the most shrinkage or not.

This topic has become the "Earth is 6,000 years old" story for Dems. They'll find any possible reason to distract and deflect, even when a retailer flat out says retail theft is the direct cause. Spin away and manipulate data all you want, the facts will win out, and they're not getting any better for you.

[GMDino]

(10-05-2023, 01:28 PM)Sociopathicsteelerfan Wrote: More spin to try and distract people from the Dems failure on this issue.  It doesn't matter if they're closing the stores with the most shrinkage.  It matters that their overall shrinkage is to the point that they have to close stores.  A store with high shrinkage can still be profitable due to volume of sales, but if overall shrinkage numbers don't allow for continued operation of all currently open locations then one of them has got to go.  Which one?  Well that decision is easy, the one that is the least profitable, whether it experiences the most shrinkage or not.

This topic has become the "Earth is 6,000 years old" story for Dems.  They'll find any possible reason to distract and deflect, even when a retailer flat out says retail theft is the direct cause.  Spin away and manipulate data all you want, the facts will win out, and they're not getting any better for you.

So the closings are about sales/profit and not "Democrat led cities due to crime"?

Anyway I was just adding some info to the discussion.  I spun nor manipulated...I shared what is out there.  You obviously can believe whatever you like.

[basballguy]

(10-05-2023, 02:43 PM)GMDino Wrote: So the closings are about sales/profit and not "Democrat led cities due to crime"?

Anyway I was just adding some info to the discussion.  I spun nor manipulated...I shared what is out there.  You obviously can believe whatever you like.

I don't think you're spinning anything but I also don't think this tells the full story.

As we talked about earlier in the thread back in May, there are other factors involved than "reported shopliftings".  

Target invested in increased security....locking a lot more items behind cases...more security guards....these things have a cost...reduced hours of operation....All because of crime/theft.  You aren't going to see that in "reported shopliftings".  

 I wonder if these items caused the operation of these stores to become cost prohibitive (hint: it did)....I wonder if they were also a deterrent to shoppers (hint: it is).  I personally would be annoyed af if i had to call a dude every time I needed to add something to my shopping cart.  

Target isn't lying to us.  People are just trying to find ways to not believe it's true.  

[GMDino]

(10-05-2023, 03:34 PM)basballguy Wrote: I don't think you're spinning anything but I also don't think this tells the full story.

As we talked about earlier in the thread back in May, there are other factors involved than "reported shopliftings".  

Target invested in increased security....locking a lot more items behind cases...more security guards....these things have a cost...reduced hours of operation....All because of crime/theft.  You aren't going to see that in "reported shopliftings".  

 I wonder if these items caused the operation of these stores to become cost prohibitive (hint: it did)....I wonder if they were also a deterrent to shoppers (hint: it is).  I personally would be annoyed af if i had to call a dude every time I needed to add something to my shopping cart.  

Target isn't lying to us.  People are just trying to find ways to not believe it's true.  

So sales/profit.

But yeah, I'm just adding more info and not blaming one thing because it is politically expedient.

For example:

https://corporate.target.com/press/release/2023/08/target-corporation-reports-second-quarter-earnings

Quote:MINNEAPOLIS, Aug. 16, 2023 /PRNewswire/ --

• The Company's second quarter operating income margin rate of 4.8 percent was more than 3 percentage points higher than last year, driven by a higher gross margin rate.
  
• Second quarter GAAP and Adjusted EPS1 of $1.80 was more than 4 times higher than a year ago and above the high end of the Company's guidance range, reflecting a meaningful profit recovery from last year's inventory actions.
  
• Second quarter comparable sales declined 5.4 percent.
  
  • Continued growth in frequency businesses (Essentials & Beauty and Food & Beverage) partially offset declines in discretionary categories.
  • Same-day services grew nearly 4 percent, led by nearly 7 percent growth in Drive-Up.
    
    
    
• Inventory at the end of Q2 was 17 percent lower than last year, reflecting a 25 percent reduction in discretionary categories, partially offset by inventory investments to support frequency categories, and strategic investments to support long-term market-share opportunities.
  
  
• Given recent sales trends, the Company lowered its full year sales and profit expectations. The Company now expects comparable sales in a wide range around a mid-single digit decline for the remainder of the year, and now expects full-year GAAP and Adjusted EPS of $7.00 to $8.00.
  
  

They seem very financially sound with a good handle on their inventory.  Profits can only go up with fewer stores/employees and less inventory to handle.

[Sociopathicsteelerfan]

(10-05-2023, 02:43 PM)GMDino Wrote: So the closings are about sales/profit and not "Democrat led cities due to crime"?

Yes, but please try and follow this logic.  Crime eats into profits.  More crime eats into profits more.  Ultimately everything a business does is motivated by the bottom line.  In this case the bottom line is being affected by out of control retail theft.

Quote:Anyway I was just adding some info to the discussion.  I spun nor manipulated...I shared what is out there.  You obviously can believe whatever you like.

I didn't quote you intentionally.  It was your quoted source that was spinning.  If you want to argue that you are also doing so by quoting the source then feel free to do so.  I did not, and that was intentional.

[Dill]

(10-05-2023, 03:34 PM)basballguy Wrote: I don't think you're spinning anything but I also don't think this tells the full story.

As we talked about earlier in the thread back in May, there are other factors involved than "reported shopliftings".  

Target invested in increased security....locking a lot more items behind cases...more security guards....these things have a cost...reduced hours of operation....All because of crime/theft.  You aren't going to see that in "reported shopliftings".  

 I wonder if these items caused the operation of these stores to become cost prohibitive (hint: it did)....I wonder if they were also a deterrent to shoppers (hint: it is).  I personally would be annoyed af if i had to call a dude every time I needed to add something to my shopping cart.  

Target isn't lying to us.  People are just trying to find ways to not believe it's true.  

Can the cost of increased security explain why stores with fewer shoplifting incidents are closed 

while stores around them with many more such incidents are left open? 

How would you account for the disjunct?  

Is it entirely denial to wonder if some other factor may have played into the decision to close?

[BigPapaKain]

Fwiw, I know a lot of folks who work in a lot of stores. All of those stores have a certain amount of money allocated to being lost through shoplifting.

It's all insured anyways. Sure the corporations try to tell you it eats into their profits - and it does, in the same way paying for unemployment insurance eats into their profits.

[Sociopathicsteelerfan]

(10-07-2023, 10:23 AM)BigPapaKain Wrote: Fwiw, I know a lot of folks who work in a lot of stores. All of those stores have a certain amount of money allocated to being lost through shoplifting.

It's all insured anyways. Sure the corporations try to tell you it eats into their profits - and it does, in the same way paying for unemployment insurance eats into their profits.

It is insured to a point.  Once you pass that point it is 100% loss and stores start to close.

[Housh]

(04-16-2023, 08:08 PM)Vas Deferens Wrote: Teens in Philly have so few entertainment/ gathering options it’s criminal. Lots of kids live in overcrowded homes. If you don’t give them options like community centers / city gyms / public spaces, what do you expect they do? It’s nuts how overlooked this demo is when it comes to city planning / funding.

My issue with this convo is one second ppl will demonize the crime then the next they are completely silent when rec centers and get together spots are demolished or repurposed for other needs.

It’s the equivalent of me cheating on my wife openly everyday and then being mad when she treats me differently.

Like what do y’all expect these kids are gonna do?


I grew up in Trotwood, Ohio and where i used to live there isn’t even a solid basketball court to go hoop at. The nearest grocery store was at least 15 miles away and the city has barely NO seasonal events.


Kids need shit to do.


If you really want to decrease crime you should be pushing to get more of these places back

[basballguy]

(10-13-2023, 05:57 PM)Housh Wrote: My issue with this convo is one second ppl will demonize the crime then the next they are completely silent when rec centers and get together spots are demolished or repurposed for other needs.

It’s the equivalent of me cheating on my wife openly everyday and then being mad when she treats me differently.

Like what do y’all expect these kids are gonna do?


I grew up in Trotwood, Ohio and where i used to live there isn’t even a solid basketball court to go hoop at. The nearest grocery store was at least 15 miles away and the city has barely NO seasonal events.


Kids need shit to do.


If you really want to decrease crime you should be pushing to get more of these places back

It is not the city’s responsibility to keep children occupied. A lack of amenities doesn’t excuse criminal behavior. Sure it helps but this is shifting blame from negligent/absent parents.

You can blame the cities for a lot of things like poor policies on handling shoplifting as a crime but a basketball hoop isn’t gonna stop this behavior after the sun goes down.

[Dill]

(10-13-2023, 06:13 PM)basballguy Wrote: It is not the city’s responsibility to keep children occupied.  A lack of amenities doesn’t excuse criminal behavior.  Sure it helps but this is shifting blame from negligent/absent parents.  

You can blame the cities for a lot of things like poor policies on handling shoplifting as a crime but a basketball hoop isn’t gonna stop this behavior after the sun goes down.

Actually, I rather agree with Housh on this.  Parents are responsible for their children,
but some of them have limited means. 

I do think it is a responsibility of cities to some degree to "keep children occupied," as in provide spaces and venues
from something more than hanging out. Swimming pools, gyms, basketball courts and soccer fields might indeed
make a difference, but there need to be adults involved pushing and organizing too. 

Back when most Americans lived on farms, this kind of thing would not be a problem. Kids went home and did chores after school.
No time for mischief.

But once people start getting packed into cities, with a thousand kids in square mile of concreate, asphalt and high rises, with no chores and few
jobs, mischief is going to develop. If cities don't want that trouble, then they need to think ahead, build recreation into their planning. 

[GMDino]

The more people the more likely you will have bad people.  That's just the way it is.

Many smaller towns have tried to create youth activities to "give the kids something to do" for this very reason.

We had boyscouts, little league, a coed soccer league, and more when I was growing up.  Now they have nothing in that town because it costs money and needs volunteers.

Now you just see the kids walking the street.  

[GMDino]

Oh.

Remember all those smash-and-grab videos of store theft? Now meet the suburban housewife and her husband behind an $8 million nationwide shoplifting ring. ? pic.twitter.com/dU0y9kfrUa

— Keith Boykin (@keithboykin) March 13, 2024

 


https://www.cnbc.com/video/2024/03/12/inside-the-organized-crime-rings-plaguing-retailers-including-ulta-t-j-maxx-and-walgreens.html




More "Dem" failures?  

More "parents not being responsible for the children"?

Discuss.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/inside-organized-crime-rings-plaguing-134737481.html

Quote:Inside the organized crime rings plaguing Ulta, T.J. Maxx, Walgreens and other retailers

Gabrielle Fonrouge, CNBC and Scott Zamost, CNBC and Courtney Reagan, CNBC and Ali McCadden, CNBC
Updated Wed, March 13, 2024 at 12:09 AM EDT·22 min read
820


In a tony suburban enclave in the San Diego foothills, police say, an organized retail crime “queenpin” had built an empire.
Tucked behind the stone walls of her 4,500-square-foot Spanish-style mansion, Michelle Mack had stockpiled a small fortune in cosmetics that had been stolen from Ulta and Sephora stores across the country, authorities said.

Police don’t suspect that Mack, 53, took the items herself. Instead, they say, she pulled the strings from the shadows, employing a network of around a dozen women who stole the items for her so she could resell them on AmazonWith their airfare, car rentals and other travel expenses paid by Mack, the suspects committed hundreds of thefts up and down the California coast and into Washington, Utah, Oregon, Colorado, Arizona, Illinois, Texas, Florida, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts and Ohio, investigators said. Mack selected which stores to target and what merchandise to take and the women were sent to clear out entire shelves of merchandise before making off with the stolen goods stuffed into Louis Vuitton bags, investigators said.

Investigators began referring to the theft group as the “California Girls” and considered Mack the crew’s ringleader. She made millions reselling the stolen items on Amazon to unwitting customers at a fraction of their typical retail price, investigators said, before she was arrested in early December.

Law enforcement officials say Mack’s alleged theft ring is just one of the many that are plaguing U.S. retailers and costing them billions in losses annually. Their rise has led many companies to lock up merchandise, hire security guards and lobby lawmakers for stricter regulations.

These organized theft groups don’t typically carry out the splashy “smash and grab” robberies seen in viral videos. Instead, they pilfer goods quickly, quietly and efficiently. They often function within elaborate, organized structures that in some ways mimic the corporations they’re stealing from, police said.

CNBC has spent about eight months embedding with various law enforcement agencies and investigating theft groups to understand what organized retail crime looks like from the ground. In some cases, CNBC witnessed low-level shoplifting incidents involving people who appeared to be homeless or mentally ill. In other instances, CNBC saw takedowns of alleged organized theft groups that police said were reselling stolen merchandise at flea markets. Mack’s group, from her alleged network of professional thieves to her lucrative Amazon marketplace, was by far the most sophisticated one CNBC tracked alongside police.

But federal agents with Homeland Security Investigations, the Department of Homeland Security’s law enforcement branch, said some crime groups are even more elaborate — and theft is just one facet of their enterprises.

“We’re talking about operations that have fleets of trucks, 18-wheelers that have palletized loads of stolen goods, that have cleaning crews that actually clean the goods to make them look brand new,” said Adam Parks, an assistant special agent in charge at HSI, which is the main federal agency investigating retail crime.

“Just like any business, they’ve invested their capital into business assets like shrink wrap machines, forklifts,” Parks, who works out of HSI’s Baton Rouge, Louisiana, office, told CNBC in an interview. “That is what organized theft looks like, and it actually is indistinguishable from other e-commerce distribution centers.”

These theft groups in their myriad forms have become a thorn in the side of retailers big and small, prompting retailers to cite crime as the reason for lower profits, the inability to hire and retain staff, and the degradation of the in-store experience. They have also united politically divided Americans in their disdain for seeing everyday products locked up behind glass cases and witnessing brazen theft gone unchecked in stores.

Whether organized retail crime is actually rising is up for debate. Retailers including Target, Foot Locker, Walgreens and Ulta have said theft is a growing problem in recent years. But few have said how often it’s happening or how much money they’re losing from it, fueling accusations from some experts and analysts that they’re blaming crime in order to mask operational missteps.
The National Retail Federation estimates that retailers lost $40.5 billion to external theft, including organized retail crime, in 2022.
That represented about 36% of total inventory losses — slightly lower than the 37% in 2021.

Even if theft has not meaningfully reduced some retailers’ profits, many have warned that crime can threaten the safety of workers and shoppers.

“The financial impact is real, but way more important is the human impact, the impact it has to our associates, the impact it has to our guests,” Ulta CEO Dave Kimbell told CNBC in a rare sit-down interview.

“It also impacts the communities in which we live,” he said. “If people don’t feel safe going in to shop in certain areas of a community, it really has an impact and can change neighborhoods and change communities over time.”

The government response to the issue has grown in turn. Both local and federal agencies have stepped up enforcement of laws targeting organized retail crime, and lawmakers are proposing and passing more measures that stiffen penalties for theft offenses.
HSI initiated 59 cases against organized theft groups in fiscal 2021, resulting in 55 indictments and 61 arrests, the agency said.

By the end of fiscal 2023, cases had more than tripled, to 199. Indictments spiked more than fivefold to 284, while arrests soared to 386, more than six times the number in 2021.

California Highway Patrol, which runs one of the most active retail crime task forces in the country, reports it made 170% more arrests for organized theft offenses in 2023 than it did in 2022.

It’s not clear whether organized theft offenses increased in that time or officials ramped up enforcement as the issue got more public attention and the retail industry’s lobbying engine pressed them to make it a priority.

CNBC embedded with teams from HSI and California Highway Patrol to witness four organized retail crime operations for this investigation. The probe is also based on more than a dozen interviews with law enforcement officers, retail leaders and customers, along with records, including court filings, company reports and property records.

New Orleans
On a sweltering Monday morning in July, about a dozen agents from HSI New Orleans gathered behind the U.S. Custom House, preparing for Operation French Quarter.

The officers were instructed to pose as shoppers inside three Walgreens stores and one CVS store in the area seeing high rates of theft, sometimes as many as 20 to 30 incidents per day, agents said.

As federal law enforcement agents who typically investigate terrorism, sex trafficking and gang leaders such as Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, the officers weren’t there to arrest people for petty theft. They had a clear directive: Find out who’s stealing and follow them out of the store to determine who else they may be working with.

“Obviously, the name of the game, guys and girls, is trying to get the bigger and better fish,” Assistant Special Agent in Charge Scott Robles, who led the operation, told the assembled officers. “We’re trying to identify the people who are in charge of this organized crime.”

At the bottom of organized retail crime rings are boosters — the people who go into stores and take the items. Robles was hoping the serial thieves targeting the drugstores could lead them to a larger operation.

“It can be anybody. It could be the mom with five kids just looking for extra money. It can be somebody that’s part of a team. ... They may be getting paid with food, they may be getting paid with beer or drugs,” Robles said. “Some people get paid cash or they’re trying to work off a debt.”

Throughout the hourslong operation, agents identified at least one case that they say plainly showed organized theft.
Surveillance footage of the incident shows a man enter one of the Walgreens stores, head to the cosmetics aisle, remove a plastic shopping bag from his pants and calmly load it up with 17 jars of nail polish, valued at around $200. He then walked about a half mile away to the New Orleans Public Library’s main branch, where he sold the nail polish to a security guard, police said.

Federal agents briefly questioned the security guard, and the incident remains under investigation.

Beyond that instance, the vast majority of the thefts agents witnessed during the operation were low-level and petty, involving people who appeared to be homeless, mentally ill or transient. One man stole paper towels and then walked into a homeless shelter. A group took a case of beer and later went to a park to drink it. A woman stole a case of water, set up a stand to resell it and then defecated on the sidewalk.

Operation French Quarter showed how the lowest level of a retail crime operation can function, and how even small thefts can involve coordination among bad actors. Still, the incidents underscore the challenges investigators face when trying to build cases; they also demonstrate just how petty many thefts are, especially in urban areas with high rates of homelessness and addiction.

A Walgreens spokesperson told CNBC that the chain is “focused on the safety of our patients, customers and team members” and is taking steps to “safely deter theft” and “deliver the best patient and customer experience.”

“We are working closely with law enforcement, elected officials and community leaders to draw greater attention to and improve our response to retail crime,” the spokesperson said.

San Jose
Crates filled with unopened jugs of Gain, Tide and Downy detergent. Boxes stuffed with Gillette razors, Olay moisturizer and Allegra allergy pills. A pile of sparkly silver boots in sizes 8, 9 and 10 with the T.J. Maxx tags still on.

This is just some of the merchandise that California Highway Patrol found inside a home and storage container belonging to suspected members of an organized retail crime ring during a raid in November.

In all, investigators uncovered nearly 20,000 items valued at more than $550,000 across five locations connected with the group, according to CHP. Police suspect the majority of the items were stolen from T.J. Maxx stores and a variety of drugstores and grocery stores in and around the Bay Area.

CHP’s probe began in September, when investigators from TJX Companies, the owner of T.J. Maxx, reached out to the agency’s organized retail crime task force with information about a crime ring that it said was buying and reselling stolen goods — a “fencing” operation.

When boosters need to cash in on the items they take, they turn to fencers, who buy the products for pennies on the dollar and resell them at a margin Wall Street could only dream of, retail crime investigators have said.

Experts said retailers can have a hard time persuading law enforcement to investigate theft at stores because it is often considered a property crime, which police tend to see as less urgent than homicides, shootings and narcotics crimes.

To show law enforcement the scope of the problem, TJX investigators began conducting surveillance on the alleged crime ring. CHP agreed to take the case. Sgt. Manny Nevarez, who oversees all organized retail crime investigations in the Bay Area for CHP, told CNBC the group had hit stores in multiple counties in an effort to evade detection.

“They are not catching on that some of the retailers have their own loss prevention personnel and typically, if you target one store in San Jose, then the word gets out and then the next store is notified,” said Nevarez.

Police learned that alleged members of the group were reselling the suspected stolen merchandise out of their homes and at the local Capitol Flea Market — a sprawling swap meet on the outskirts of San Jose. Officers also witnessed members of the crew receiving suspected stolen merchandise, transferring those goods to others in their network and exchanging money.

At the end of November, dozens of CHP investigators working with TJX descended on the five locations connected with the alleged fencing ring and carried out search warrants in a raid cops dubbed “Operation Kingsfall.” The locations included numerous homes along with a storage unit.

“Nosotros somos policia,” the officers shouted in Spanish outside one of the homes. “Police, search warrant. Open the door with your hands up,” they continued, switching between English and Spanish before using a battering ram to knock down the door.

The location, an innocuous single-family home with Christmas decorations out front, looked like any other on the block. But on the sidewalk and grass near the property line sat dozens of discarded clothing tags, anti-theft devices, hangers and other retail store detritus.

Inside the home, CHP officers and TJX personnel found mountains of goods they suspect were stolen to resell, including bags of apparel with the tags still affixed, boxes of Huggies diapers, liquor and power tools.

By the time authorities completed the raids, they had enough suspected stolen merchandise to fill three 20-foot-long U-Haul trucks. A spokesperson for the Santa Clara County District Attorney said it is charging nine defendants in connection with the alleged crime ring.
The law enforcement operation witnessed by CNBC showed the breadth of some of the fencing rings in the U.S. and how flea markets can play a role in the sale of stolen goods. Capitol Flea Market didn’t respond to a request for comment.

“There’s certain crimes that come up where the public reaches a point where they’re like, ‘We have had enough of this,’ right?” Lt. Michael Ball, who helped oversee the operation, told CNBC. “And this is one of those that’s reached that level where people are saying widely and shouting it all the way up to our governor’s office that they have had enough of this.”

In a statement, a TJX spokesperson said the company is “thankful” for CHP’s efforts and is taking organized retail crime “very seriously.” The spokesperson said TJX is “laser-focused on ways to mitigate theft in our stores.”

The company told CNBC it will not resell the recovered merchandise. If TJX considers the items to be in suitable condition, it will donate them to charities in the area where they were found, the company said. If it deems the products unsuitable, it will work to dispose of them “responsibly,” it said.

San Diego
When Donna Washburn started shopping for a Christmas gift for her daughter in December, she wanted to “splurge” and buy her a bottle of Nars foundation. But she couldn’t find it in stock at a store close to home.

So, like many consumers, she Googled the product. She saw it was available on Amazon and cost around $38 before tax, nearly 30% cheaper than its typical retail price of $52.

“I said, you know, ‘It’s Amazon, it’ll come fast.’ It was the beginning of December. So I really didn’t want to wait too much longer for Christmas,” Washburn told CNBC in an interview, adding she was told it would arrive by Dec. 11.

Unknown to Washburn, police say, that bottle of foundation had likely been stolen by the crew of boosters allegedly employed by Mack — the suspected retail crime mastermind accused of running an illicit business from her San Diego mansion.

The Christmas gift ultimately never arrived, because Mack was arrested before she could ship the package, which was one of many found in Mack’s residence by investigators.

“I pay attention, but not that much, you know?” said Washburn, a 63-year-old clinical education associate in St. Augustine, Florida. “I’m shopping from Amazon. Hopefully you can trust it. So now that we know better ... we’ll think twice.”

Washburn had bought the foundation from an Amazon storefront dubbed Online Makeup Store, which Mack had opened in 2012. CNBC viewed it before it was taken down in late 2023.

On its face, Mack’s storefront looked no different from the millions of others on Amazon’s marketplace. It had 4.5 stars on more than 100 reviews, and featured cosmetics from popular brands such as Mac, Tarte and Charlotte Tilbury that shoppers can find in neighborhood beauty stores.

There was just one red flag: the prices. Many of the products for sale at Mack’s store were listed at a fraction of the typical retail price, including a $25 bottle of Estee Lauder foundation that typically retails for $52 and Too Faced mascara that typically goes for $29 and was being sold for $17.

The store brought in millions. Since 2012, Mack sold nearly $8 million in cosmetics through the storefront before it was shut down, and she brought in $1.89 million in 2022 alone, Amazon sales records provided to investigators show.

Mack could offer such low prices, police suspect, because her crew of boosters had stolen the products in hundreds of incidents over more than a decade. Some of the thefts brought in around $2,000 in merchandise while others netted as much as $50,000 worth of merchandise, prosecutors said.

Mack’s business was humming along ahead of the holiday shopping season until the carefully crafted empire police say she built crumbled. On a cool December morning just before dawn, a convoy of CHP and HSI agents, armed with a search warrant, raided her sprawling mansion.

Mack, dressed in a baby pink pajama set and a pair of fuzzy mule slippers, was handcuffed and put into a police car as her teenage daughters stood in the driveway, watching.

Inside her garage, investigators found what they described as a “mini-store” — shelves and shelves of beauty products, sunglasses and designer bags organized in neat bins and categorized by product. They also found hundreds of postmarked yellow envelopes destined for unwitting customers, including Washburn, with “Online Makeup Store” marked as the return address.

Police recovered nearly 10,000 items worth a total of more than $387,000, CHP said.

In February, California Attorney General Rob Bonta filed a total of 140 felony charges against Mack; her husband, Kenneth Mack; and seven other alleged members of the crew. The charges included conspiracy to commit organized retail theft, grand theft and receipt of stolen property. The defendants have all pleaded not guilty. CNBC contacted each defendant multiple times for comment, but none of them responded.

“This is a multimillion-dollar criminal scheme. It was complex. It was orchestrated,” Bonta said when announcing the charges. “We are not talking about garden-variety shoplifting.”

Court records filed in connection with the case provide a rare glimpse into the inner workings of an alleged organized retail crime ring. They show text messages between the suspects and details about the operation.

“I’m not stealing regular I’m going to start filling up my bag quick. So I want to know stuff I can grab in bulks too,” Kimora Lee Gooding texted Michelle Mack on Jan. 7, 2023.

Between Jan. 30 and Feb. 16, 2023, Gooding committed at least 10 separate thefts at Ulta stores across California, prosecutors allege in court records. In each case, Gooding took more than $950 worth of goods, the records say.

On Feb. 21, a few days after Gooding’s string of thefts, Mack sent her a screenshot of “Online Makeup Store” with an address she could ship the stolen products to. It was the same business address that was listed on Mack’s Amazon page before it was shut down, and traced back to a post office box a few miles from her home.

“Even without lancome we still did well,” Michelle Mack texted her husband two days later, allegedly referencing a prestige cosmetics brand owned by L’Oreal.

Soon, orders were pouring into Michelle Mack’s Amazon store.

“Lots of orders let’s get shipping,” Kenneth Mack texted Michelle Mack alongside an image that showed a bin full of paper.
By July 8, it appeared that the haul Gooding and others had allegedly brought in had dried up. Michelle Mack needed more things to sell.

“Did you get some new girls?” Michelle Mack texted Alina Franco, another person charged in connection with the theft crew. “I really need product so if you have anything please let me know.”

A day later, two more thefts connected to the ring were committed and many more followed, prosecutors said.

In addition to Ulta and Sephora, the theft organization targeted a range of other retailers, including Macy’s-owned Bloomingdale’s, Prada, Bath & Body Works, Victoria’s Secret, and Luxottica’s Sunglass Hut and LensCrafters, prosecutors said.

Sephora and Bath & Body Works declined to discuss the case with CNBC. Victoria’s Secret, Macy’s, Prada, Sunglass Hut and LensCrafters didn’t respond to requests for comment.

Despite the recent surge of headlines and commentary on the topic, organized theft groups have long operated around the world. But retail industry leaders and some law enforcement officials argue the rise of online marketplaces and e-commerce has caused such incidents to increase or have made it easier for theft groups to operate.

“There’s an ease of distribution that has become even more prevalent for stolen goods through online marketplaces. ... You used to have to sell stolen goods at flea markets or out of the trunk of your car or maybe just locally,” said Ulta’s Kimbell. “Now, you have more sophisticated tools to have a broader reach across the country or even internationally.”

While Kimbell didn’t name Amazon specifically, he said online marketplaces are “part of the problem” and should be using the data, analytics and other technology available to them to be more “proactive” in shutting down bad-actor sellers.

“We shouldn’t have an environment where it’s possible to steal from one retailer and [have it] end up on any other platform, any other large-scale, mainstream platform” that people consider legitimate, said Kimbell.

Bonta called on Amazon and other marketplaces to “do more.” He said they could inform law enforcement, or at least talk to a seller, when red flags such as unusually cheap goods pop up.

“If you freeze out the demand and remove the market by closing out the marketplace where the stolen goods are so easily sold, you make organized retail crime as an organized crime less attractive. And we need to create barriers, instead of ease, for the ability to commit these crimes,” Bonta said in an interview.

In response, an Amazon spokesperson said that the company has “zero tolerance for the sale of stolen goods” and that the company invests more than $1 billion annually in preventing fraud and abuse.

“We leverage sophisticated detection and prevention solutions across our stores and fulfillment operations, allowing us to quickly spot a range of organized retail crime (ORC) schemes,” the spokesperson said in a statement.

The spokesperson said Amazon supports efforts to trace items throughout the supply chain and investigates allegations of stolen merchandise to find out how products were obtained.

“When we identify an issue, we work closely with law enforcement, retailers, and brands to stop bad actors and hold them accountable, including withholding funds, terminating accounts, and making law enforcement referrals,” which have led to arrests, product seizures and the disruption of retail crime rings, the spokesperson wrote.

The company said it assisted with the investigation into Michelle Mack’s alleged theft crew and provided evidence to investigators. It said it’s “pleased” the suspects were arrested because it “sends a strong message that the sale of stolen goods has severe consequences.”

Consumers, many of whom are hungry for deals as they contend with lingering inflation and high interest rates, may feel that buying stolen goods is a victimless crime, experts say.

Michael Krol, HSI’s special agent in charge, disagrees with that idea. He said not only does theft lead to higher prices for consumers but also the items they’re buying could be unsafe because of how they were stored or otherwise manipulated.

“Those items might not have the quality assurance and compliance that we expect in the United States. Baby formula, your medicines ... [Consumers] could be buying baby formula that’s expired by three months,” said Krol.

The Inform Consumers Act, which took effect in June, was designed to curb the sale of stolen, counterfeit or otherwise harmful products on online platforms by requiring marketplaces to verify and share identifying information on certain third-party sellers.

The law was designed to prevent the exact type of illicit business Michelle Mack is accused of conducting on Amazon. If sellers are required to provide their contact information to marketplaces and on their listings, bad actors may be deterred from selling illicit goods.

However, Michelle Mack’s business name and an address belonging to it had been verified and was publicly available on her seller’s page. She’d already been on the platform for more than a decade by the time the Inform Act rolled around.

The verification process that Amazon conducted for Michelle Mack’s store after the Inform Act passed wasn’t enough to raise the company’s suspicions, either.

“In this instance, we did not receive signals to identify the seller was engaged in selling stolen goods,” Amazon said.

As part of the law, marketplaces are also required to provide a way for people to report suspicious product listings. But the law doesn’t require the marketplaces to do anything with that information.

“Amazon works hard to ensure our store is a safe and trusted place for shoppers,” Amazon says on a page where people can report suspicious listings. “If you believe any product, seller or other activity in our store is suspicious, please report this using one of the below methods.”

“While we are not able to respond directly to each report,” it says, “we appreciate your feedback.”

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com

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