How a pattern of shoplifting ammunition led Delaware to demand Cabela's records

One woman's frequent pawning of ammunition sold exclusively at Cabela's prompted an investigation that now has the Delaware Department of Justice looking into what they call lax shoplifting prevention practices by the Christiana Mall gun dealer.

The state Department of Justice is demanding to see Cabela's records, specifically its loss prevention policies. The DOJ also wants to see the records of other Cabela's and its sister store, Bass Pro Shop, within 100 miles of the Christiana Mall location — this would include at least two in Pennsylvania, one in New Jersey and another in Maryland.

The DOJ came out publicly last month saying it is investigating if Cabela’s violated state laws, including Delaware’s firearms industry public nuisance law, through its hands-off approach to the shoplifting of ammunition from its Christiana location.

"Businesses need to be responsible members of our community; that includes gun dealers taking reasonable steps to prevent gun violence," Delaware Attorney General Kathy Jennings said after announcing her department's investigation. "Unfortunately, Cabela's casual storage, and their stonewalling of this investigation, tell us that they still aren't taking that responsibility seriously."

Cabela's has not responded to a request for comment, but in court filings its parent company, the Great American Outdoors Group, objected to the subpoena, calling it "overbroad" and saying the summons seeks documents containing trade secrets, confidential business or other proprietary information.

The group also objected to the DOJ's refusal to postpone the subpoena's already-passed March 17 return date pending a decision on the National Shooting Sports Foundation's federal lawsuit against Jennings that challenges the constitutionality of a public nuisance law.

The foundation's lawsuit claims the public nuisance law "is breathtaking in its scope" as it imposes sweeping liability for any firearms marketing that could later be thought to "contribute to a public nuisance" in Delaware.

The investigation began after 39-year-old Danielle M. Brookens told investigators she'd shoplifted half a million rounds of ammunition from the store over a year's time. In addition to pawning the stolen ammo, Brookens explained that she sold it to criminals in Philadelphia and the Dover area where she lived.

Brookens pleaded guilty in April to possession of ammunition by a person prohibited and was sentenced to a drug diversion program. In exchange for her plea, the charges of shoplifting and resisting arrest were dismissed.

According to the DOJ, the ammunition was stored unsecured in the middle of the sales floor with no apparent effort to stop massive shoplifting. After investigators subpoenaed Cabela’s in February, the DOJ said Cabela's moved its ammunition behind a sales counter.

The investigation has so far been playing out in court documents, some of which Delaware Online/The News Journal has obtained. But next month the arguments are expected to be voiced at a hearing where the DOJ is asking a Superior Court Judge to enforce its subpoena against Cabela's.

"We're asking the court to step in so that we can ensure our neighbors are being kept safe," Jennings said.

'Disturbing' response from Cabela's

People making straw purchases at Cabela's that end with deadly results in Delaware have been chronicled in court filings and news accounts.

In 2016, federal prosecutors arrested a man making straw purchases of guns at Cabela's. Darius Shields-Dryden, 33, was accompanied by teens who he bought their weapons of choice. The guns would be used by young Wilmington gang members.

THE OUTCOME: Three years for man who supplied guns to young gang members

In 2018, the family of 19-year-old Keshall "KeKe" Anderson, who was killed in a drive-by shooting in Wilmington, sued Cabela's, where the weapon was bought in a straw purchase. Two teens pleaded guilty in 2019 in connection with Anderson's killing.

LEGAL ACTION: Lawsuit filed against Cabela's by family of Wilmington woman killed with straw purchase gun

"It's disturbing," said attorney Jonathan Lowy when asked why he thought Cabela's would fight the DOJ's subpoena.

Lowy, founder and president of Global Action on Gun Violence, a gun-control group based in Washington, said a problem he sees is the lack of regulations over gun dealers, adding that the gun industry has fought any sort of requirement for security protocols in their stores.

This would explain why Cabela's would leave ammunition and some rifles on their display floors where the public could access the items. While gun dealers must report stolen guns to the FBI, there is no requirement that other stolen items must be reported — including the theft of ammunition. Lowy said one would hope the gun industry and major gun dealers would want to be cooperative with law enforcement, particularly when it's found their guns or ammunition are getting into the hands of criminals.

"Unfortunately, we've seen over the years, the gun industry often take action to prevent law enforcement measures," said Lowy, who was one of the attorneys who sued Cabela's in connection with the Anderson killing.

That lawsuit claimed the purchasers of the gun used to kill Anderson showed clear signs that Cabela's "knew or should have known that a straw purchase was underway." The lawsuit also claimed the store did not stop the purchase, notify law enforcement or "comply with its legal obligations."

A Delaware judge dismissed the lawsuit in 2019, saying Cabela's could not be held liable because it complied with a state law requiring federal criminal background checks for gun purchasers and was given permission to proceed with the sale.

More: Delaware judge tosses straw purchase lawsuit against Cabela's

Others, however, say there are already enough gun regulations and laws. What's needed is the enforcement of what exists.

"We've been pretty vocal advocates for the enforcement of the laws on the books," said Erin Chronister, cofounder and president of Women's Defense Coalition of Delaware. "The criminals who just keep offending are getting plea deal after plea deal."

This in turn leaves lawful citizens having to accept when lawmakers pass more gun control laws that make it harder for say, a woman fleeing violence, to purchase a weapon, Chronister said.

"I don't understand why those who are committing the crimes are continuously getting deals and the lawful citizens who just want them for protection or hunting or sporting are just basically being told suck it up," she said. "We're being equated with vigilantes of the wild, wild West because we want tools for self-defense."

In response to questions about Brookens receiving a light deal, a DOJ spokesperson said the defendant pleaded guilty to the highest-level offense she faced.

"She was cooperative and the state recognized her readiness to take responsibility, as well as other mitigating factors, in our sentencing recommendation," said Mat Marshall, a DOJ spokesperson.

A pattern of theft

Little is known about Brookens outside court documents, which in Delaware appear to start in 2009 — the year she was convicted at the age of 24 for unlawful use of a payment card. She served a year of probation for the misdemeanor.

Brookens, whose addresses have been in Delaware, Maryland and Pennsylvania, got her first serious charge in 2012 after she was spotted by surveillance cameras stealing and selling prescription pills inside a Kmart in Elkton, Maryland. This resulted in her being convicted of two felonies, prohibiting her from possessing weapons or ammunition.

Last year, however, police in Pennsylvania said Brookens was one of four people who conspired to steal ammunition on March 21, 2022, from a Bass Pro Shop near Harrisburg.

Only one person was arrested that afternoon as she walked out of the store carrying more than $1,000 worth of ammunition wrapped in a winter coat.

Swatara Township police said the woman had arrived with three others in a Chevrolet Cruz. One of them was identified as Brookens.

Brookens and the others, according to police, loaded ammunition into the vehicle's trunk, leaving the other woman behind.

"Investigation revealed all four occupants of the Chevrolet Cruz agreed to commit the crime of retail theft by stealing numerous boxes of ammunition," police there said in court documents.

In these same court documents, police said "subjects involved were just involved in the same type of incident at Cabela's in Hamburg." Theft charges could not be found in Berks County, where Hamburg is located.

Brookens arrived at the Dauphin County Prison on April 27, where she remains. She is scheduled for a plea hearing there next month.

The Dauphin County District Attorney's office did not respond to a call seeking information about Brookens' Pennsylvania case.

Pawning ammunition in Delaware

About this time, Brookens came to the attention of Delaware State Police when they noticed she was frequently pawning ammunition that is sold exclusively at Cabela’s, according to Senior Cpl. Leonard DeMalto, a police spokesperson.

State police contacted the state's Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives Task Force, which began an investigation that included running surveillance at Cabela's where Brookens pulled up in a black Mercedes on Dec. 8.

Task force members on surveillance were aware Brookens was a fugitive from Maryland and Pennsylvania as she entered the store, where she was seen shopping for ammunition by one of the surveillance team members inside the business.

That same officer also noticed Brookens place her jacket over the "suspected merchandise" and leave the store pushing a cart. Outside the store, Brookens was approached by a task force officer wearing a ballistic vest that was marked "police."

Brookens left her shopping cart and ran to the Mercedes, where she got in the front passenger seat.

Despite being ordered to exit the Mercedes, court documents said Brookens told the driver to leave. The officer, however, was able to open the door and pull her out.

Police recovered 18 boxes of different brands of 9 mm ammunition for a total of 2,100 rounds.

'It was easy to steal'

The state DOJ began investigating Cabela's early this year after receiving reports of thefts of significant quantities of ammunition. On March 7 — three months after her arrest — Brookens was interviewed by a special investigator with the DOJ about her shoplifting from the store.

"It was easy to steal ammunition out in the open shelves and the security was lacking," is the reason Brookens gave for shoplifting from the store, according to court documents.

Brookens explained that on more than 20 occasions, she would place boxes of ammo in a shopping cart covered by her coat. She added others were also shoplifting ammunition from the store and that they had been doing so before she started stealing from them in December 2021.

While she told investigators she was "well known to employees and at least one supervisor" who saw her often in the store, "they did not typically confront her or take action to prevent her shoplifting."

She said she would sell the ammo at about a third of its retail price to Delaware pawn shops. She would also sell ammo to "gang-related individuals" in Philadelphia and Dover, making more than $100,000.

"Ms. Brookens stated that in order to stop the shoplifting of ammunition," a court document said, "the Cabela's store should not sell it, or remove the ammunition from the open floor and/or pay attention to the video cameras they had on the floor."

Contact Esteban Parra at (302) 324-2299 or eparra@delawareonline.com.

This article originally appeared on Delaware News Journal: Cabela's in Delaware under investigation after shoplifted ammo pawned