“Shoplifting Ring Pocketed Millions Worth of Products”
San Francisco Chronicle (06/06/08) ; Fimrite, Peter
A joint task force of federal agents and San Jose police officers arrested 17 alleged members of organized crime families for their suspected involvement in a shoplifting ring. Authorities say that the Le and Vo crime families employed hundreds of shoplifters to steal from retail stores. The crime families paid the thieves 25 percent of retail value for the stolen goods, then resold the products on the secondary market. Police began investigating the multi-million dollar shoplifting ring after Safeway alerted authorities that its stores were being victimized by teams of shoplifters. Undercover officers infiltrated the shoplifting teams, learning about the operation and discovering the location of storage warehouses. Police recovered $5.5 in stolen property during the series of raids, as well as $140,000 in cash, gold bars, and diamonds. The alleged ringleaders of the operation were charged with federal money laundering and interstate transportation of stolen goods, crimes that carry a maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison. Retail theft costs as much as $5 billion a year in California, with the state losing an estimated $375 million in sales tax revenue a year as a result.
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