Organized shoplifters are problem in Athens and N.E. Georgia

Two men from New York recently traveled South and went on what police said was an illegal shopping spree at northeast Georgia Walmart stores.

“That is three Walmarts we know they hit right in a row,” said Franco, who described this form of shoplifting as “ORC” or organized retail crime.

Athens-Clarke police Det. Nathaniel Franco said the men first went to a Walmart store in Hartwell, then the one in east Athens, and finally the store in Oconee County, where they were arrested.

Both men, ages 30 and 25, had addresses in the Bronx, N.Y. area. They were in a vehicle registered in New Jersey, said Franco, a detective who investigates a majority of shoplifting crimes in Athens. He is often consulted by other agencies and loss prevention officers at several large retail stores in regards to such crimes.

These suspects were looking for the same items that included graphing calculators, which cost about $150 each, and breast pumps at around $500 each, according to Franco.

The suspects were captured due to an alert loss prevention officer at the Oconee Walmart, who alerted local deputies while the crime was in progress, according to an Oconee County Sheriff's report.

Officers recovered $2,701 worth of merchandise taken from the Athens store alone, according to Franco.

Organized shoplifting is a serious problem at retail stores across the nation, according to Franco. There is a concerted effort by law enforcement to track these organizations, which sell the stolen merchandise on the black market, flea markets and online.

Forbes magazine reported four months ago that organized retail crime "is running rampant" across the nation.

“The person that goes to Lowes or Home Depot and walks out with a lawn mower, that’s one thing, but there is an emphasis on these crimes that are organized like this. They go from state to state doing it,” the detective said.

A multi-store complex like the Tanger Outlets in Commerce are a constant target for these thieves who use I-85 as their travel and getaway route, according to Jackson County Sheriff’s Investigator Chad Herbert.

“They’re basically hitting the same stores, the high-end Michael Kors and Tommy Hilfiger,” he said.

Along the interstate they also steal at the outlets in Atlanta and Dalton, he said.

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The thieves simply bag merchandise and leave. Many stores have a policy that the employee is not to confront the shoplifters for safety reasons, Herbert said.

Earlier this month, Herbert said they investigated a case of ORC in which the license plate came back to a vehicle rented at the airport in Nashville, Tenn., and was rented to a driver with a Romanian driver’s license.

“We’re stuck at the point,” he said about how such criminals are able to avoid being tracked.

These professional type shoplifters wear hats, often masks, and never look up, where surveillance cameras are attached, according to Herbert. And the investigator said the pandemic also assisted these thieves as wearing masks is no longer unusual and commonplace among shoplifters.

Outside these organized groups, Hertbert said they see the other shoplifting from area people. Recently, they captured a suspect stealing at Tommy Hilfiger at Tanger and discovered the man worked at a local manufacturing plant and was out on his lunchbreak.

Herbert said they are in discussions with Tanger officials, to see if they would install solar-powered Flock cameras at the outlets, which would help law enforcement tracing vehicles that enter the outlet.

Herbert and Franco both said these thieves often go for the same types of merchandise.

Shoplifting takes on various forms, Franco said. There are the drug addicts, who steal, then sell the items on the street.

“They are easy for me to identify,” he said. “I take warrant after warrant after warrant on them. Sometimes 15 to 20 warrants, he said.

Another type of shoplifter takes a cheap item costing maybe 50 cents then uses the bar code to scan more expensive pieces of merchandise on the self-scan checkouts.

“They think they are getting away with it, but we catch them pretty much every time,” he said.

Then there are also the people who do it simply for a thrill, he said.

But the organized groups “do this for a living,” Franco said. “For some people it’s a means to an end."

These thefts which create problems for many retailers has its consequences, he said.

“Walmart in Chicago is actually closing four of their stores because they are underperforming. If you read between the lines, it’s because there is so much theft at these stores,” he said.

“In California they are closing stores because groups of people come in take everything off the shelves and walk out,” he said.

Walmart, he said, is probability the store most targeted across the nation by shoplifters.

“Here in Athens, we do a good job of identifying the people (who shoplift), especially our locals,” he said.

Franco cooperates with officers in other jurisdictions and with loss prevention officers who work in large stores such as Walmart, Lowes and Home Depot.

The thieves are definitely organized, he said.

“We’re also trying to be as organized as we can and use each other’s resources to catch these people,” the detective said.

This article originally appeared on Athens Banner-Herald: Organized shoplifters are problem for police in Athens and northeast Ga.