USS Reveals LPRC Tactical Tagging Study Results
Retail security technology provider and innovator, USS, unveiled the results of a recent study conducted by the Loss Prevention Retail Council (LPRC), to test the benefits of their Tactical Tagging loss prevention strategy utilizing their Mini Patriot electronic article surveillance (EAS) products.
Read more in today's Vendor Spotlight column below.

STANLEY Donates Security for Believe In Tomorrow Children's Foundation at Johns Hopkins Children's Center
STANLEY Security, a leading global manufacturer and integrator of security solutions, has completed a fully integrated security system upgrade that benefits Believe In Tomorrow's hospital housing program for families of children receiving treatment at the world-renown Johns Hopkins Children's Center in Baltimore, Maryland. The hospital housing facilities that received significant security enhancements are the Believe In Tomorrow Children's House at Johns Hopkins and the Believe In Tomorrow House at St. Casimir. stanleycss.com

Two Workplace Violence Deaths
U.S. Security Associates Inc. Slams Rehearing Bid Over Axed $38M Puni Verdict
Guards Failed to Follow Protocol & Provide Timely Warning
A Pennsylvania appeals court is being urged not to allow the families of two workplace shooting victims to reargue their case after a three-judge panel struck down a $38 million punitive damage award against a security company found liable for its handling of the incident.

The victims' families are seeking reversal of a ruling finding their claim for punitive damages against U.S. Security Associates Inc., which was voluntarily withdrawn in the early stages of the litigation but later reasserted in the run-up to trial, had been improperly added back into the case after the statute of limitations passed.

But USSA argued in a brief on Friday that the panel made the correct call in striking down the punitive damage award.

The litigation stems from a September 2010 incident in which Kraft Foods Inc. employee Yvonne Hiller shot three of her coworkers, killing two of them, at a company facility in northeast Philadelphia. The shooting occurred after an argument with coworkers that left Hiller suspended from her job.

While Hiller was escorted from the premises by USSA guards, she returned to the floor of the plant after retrieving a .357 Magnum handgun from her car and forcing her way past a guard booth at gunpoint.

Victims families filed suit alleging that USSA employees failed to follow protocol that would have required them to escort Hiller all the way to her car and ensure her departure and that the guard manning the security booth when Hiller forced her way back into the facility failed to provide a timely warning to employees inside.

Complaints filed by the families had initially included claims for punitive damages but initial counsel agreed to withdraw them in exchange for USSA's agreement to withdraw its preliminary objections to the two lawsuits. New attorneys took over for the families and renewed the demand.

A trial judge allowed the punitive damages claim back into the case, and a jury ultimately awarded the families $38.5 million, which came on top of an $8 million compensatory damages verdict. But the Superior Court denied the punitive damages award in a decision in July. law360.com

Mother of Officer Killed During Walgreens Robbery
Sues Pharmacy Chain For Not Enough Security
Jersey City: The wrongful death suit also names the security guard and the company that hired him. The suspect in the robbery assaulted the security guard and took his gun. He then opened fire on police as they arrived, hitting Santiago in the head and killing him. news12.com

UFCW the "Fighting Union" Goes Too Far at Fred Meyer
Security Had Union Reps Arrested in Store
Appellate court clobbers labor board in union arrest case
Disagreeing with a pro-union National Labor Relations Board decision as "more disingenuous than dispositive," the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit early this month sided with a big-box store in its dispute with the United Food and Commercial Workers Union where multiple union agents were arrested by local law enforcement for trespassing at the store.

The case is Fred Meyer Stores Inc. v. National Labor Relations Board, No. 15-1167 (D.C. Cir., Aug. 1, 2017). Fred Meyer Stores runs a store in Hillsboro, Ore., just outside Portland. The Hillsboro store employees were represented by the UFCW.

Fred Meyer and the UFCW had both written agreements and past practices limiting UFCW access to the Hillsboro employees during work time. Nonemployee UFCW officials had to report to the store manager on store visits, could not bother store customers, could have only brief (i.e., two-minute) conversations on the store floor with workers and could not hand out flyers or other written materials to the employees in front of customers. The union also, for many years, essentially had limited itself to two union representatives on any store visit.

In November 2008, while Fred Meyer and the UFCW were bargaining for a successor labor contract, the UFCW's leadership changed to a more militant faction, advertising itself as a "fighting union."

On Oct. 14, 2009, the new UFCW representatives got into a heated discussion with the on-duty store manager at Hillsboro. The union representatives thereafter threatened to return to the store the next day with "reinforcements." The UFCW even went so far as to designate ahead of time who on its staff would "take the arrest," should that become necessary.

The outside union agitators showed up the next day, Oct. 15, not with the usual two organizers, but with eight people. Most of the union agents failed or refused to check in with Fred Meyer management, as required by the parties" written agreement.

Instead, they invaded the store and verbally provoked the various management employees who were on hand, arguing with them and calling them, among other things, "liar."

Store security demanded that the union representatives vacate the building, which they unsurprisingly refused to do. Fred Meyer management then summoned the local police, who instructed the union folks to leave. The union representatives refused this instruction, with one of them holding up her hands to be cuffed.

Several union representatives ultimately were arrested.

The UFCW then went running to the NLRB, which subsequently held a hearing before an administrative law judge.

The ALJ found that Fred Meyer, in treating the union representatives as it had, interfered with employee rights and violated the National Labor Relations Act. The pro-union NLRB affirmed.

Fred Meyer appealed the board's decision to the D.C. Circuit, which in unusually sharp language reversed and remanded. Read more of the decision. akronlegalnews.com

Here They Come - 1 Day in & They Announce Price War
Amazon's Whole Foods vision: 'Affordable for everyone'
Whole Foods Market stores will offer lower prices starting Monday on a selection of best-selling grocery staples across its stores, while Amazon will embark on a plan to have Amazon Prime take over the Whole Foods' loyalty program with the goal of providing "special savings and in-store benefits" for Prime shoppers.

And this is just the beginning - we will make Amazon Prime the customer rewards program at Whole Foods Market and continuously lower prices as we invent together. There is significant work and opportunity ahead, and we're thrilled to get started." supermarketnews.com

NRF Says Retail Is Not Dying
'Government statistics are misleading and not comprehensive'
'Retailing continues to grow'
Retail gets a bad rap and it's not fair or accurate, contends the National Retail Federation. The trade organization, determined to change perceptions that the industry is sickly and that brick-and-mortar stores are getting clobbered by the Internet, on Wednesday spotlighted statistics showing retail growth, both in terms of sales and jobs.

NRF's message was that "reports of the death of the industry are greatly exaggerated."

The association indicated that there are more than one million retail establishments across the U.S. and that retail sales have been growing at almost 4 percent annually since 2010.

The NRF also said monthly retail sales, on a seasonally adjusted basis, have grown from $268.9 billion in January 2015, to $291.3 billion as of May 2017, according to the U.S. Census Retail Trade Survey. The survey shows sales flattening since May.

Monthly retail employment plummeted from October 2007 to July 2009 but has picked up since, rising to almost 12.9 million from about 11.9 million in July 2009, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

Total U.S. retail sales stood at $2.6 trillion in 2006 and rose to $3.34 trillion in 2016, according to the bureau.

Online is not "killing" bricks-and-mortar businesses, the NRF said, underscoring that online sales make up less than 10 percent of total retail sales and most online sales are from traditional bricks-and-mortar web sites.

Of the 50 top online retailers, nearly all operate stores, and 75 percent are traditional brick-and-mortar companies, according to the NRF, citing eMarketer statistics.

Still, online sales are on the rise, from 7.8 percent of total retail sales as of the first quarter of 2016 to 8.5 percent as of the first quarter of 2017, according to the Census Bureau.

The NRF claims the government doesn't give the full picture on the U.S. retail job market, and basically just counts workers inside stores and not at corporate headquarters, e-commerce facilities, warehouses and other behind-the-scenes areas.

The organization has been in talks with the Bureau of Labor Statistics urging the government agency to rethink how retail jobs are counted and to take a more comprehensive approach, as previously reported by WWD. The NRF wants to work with the government on issuing a different set of statistics. wwd.com

Top 12 Companies Laying Off the Most Workers in 2017
Where the Retailers Fall on the Top 12 - 58%
While retail is bearing the brunt of job cuts this year, the energy sector posted the most layoffs through the same period in 2016. However the good news is that the pace of layoffs appears to be slowing. Here's where the retailers fall in the Top 12 in the U.S.:

#1 Macy's 10,000
#2 JC Penney 5,500Z
#3 HHGregg 5,000
#5 The Limited 4,000
#6 Wet Seal, 3,000
#8 Dollar Express, 2,800
#11. Lowe's Cos. 2,400 job cuts.

That's 58% of the top 12 companies in the U.S. laying off employees are in the retail sector. 

Editor's Note: Well this is it for 2017 in so far as layoffs are concerned. Sure we could see a couple of stragglers that were holding on until the last minute like the e-retailer Blue Apron's cuts and Sunoco's c-store cuts after selling to 7-Eleven, and Macy's reorganization, but for the most part mass layoffs are over for 2017.

Then it's the holiday push and we're all holding our breaths, as Q1 looms with more blood in the water as Amazon continues to grow unabated. So the bigger question is are the cuts coming in 2018 bigger than 2017? Just a thought but it is reality.
247wallst.com

Sears Has Closed 180 Stores This Year - 150 More Planned + 28 Kmart Stores
While Sears made some improvements over the quarter - after it squeezed out a profit for the first time in two years in Q1  - it still trails a department store sector that is righting itself. And Sears doesn't show the same signs that the retailer has stopped or slowed the hemorrhaging of sales, as many of its peers did in their Q2 releases. One big problem for the retailer is that, as it closes stores, its comparable store-sales continue to decline - which is the opposite of what should happen. retaildive.com

New California bill protects alarm companies from false alarm fines
California Gov. Jerry Brown on July 31 signed AB 1616 by Assemblyman Adrin Nazarian into law, bringing false alarm fines to the alarm permit holders, not alarm companies, unless the alarm company is responsible. The bill, which becomes effective Jan. 1, 2018, was sponsored by ADT Security Services and supported by the California Alarm Association, based here. securitysystemsnews.com

Fourth Quarter Push Coming on LP Jobs?
Are we seeing a slight push after the slump in postings? Probably not, at least in my opinion. But we are seeing at least a few postings for senior jobs. The next four weeks will determine the rest of 2017's push. Then we'll start to see anticipated openings, which is usually very few. The Q1 and the sharks in the water.

Director of Loss Prevention Party City, Rockaway, N.J.
The Company operates specialty retail party supply stores in the United States and Canada, principally under the names Party City and Halloween City, and e-commerce websites, principally through the domain name PartyCity.com. The Company also franchises both individual stores and franchise areas throughout the United States and Puerto Rico, principally under the name Party City. adp.com

Director LP & Ops Support - Lowe's, Charlotte, N.C.
The primary purpose of this role is to provide leadership and oversight to a team of LP & Ops Support Managers that develop, administer and maintain Lowe's Loss Prevention, Safety and Operations, safety and operations programs within an assigned region. This includes responsibility for analyzing complex sets of data and working closely with Store, Regional and Corporate leadership to establish and achieve safety, shrink, training, and operational objectives. This role maintains a constant presence throughout the Region to identify loss prevention, safety and operational needs.

Lowe's Q2 reported yesterday - comp's up 4.5%, sales up 6.8%. For six months 2017 comp's up. As of August 4, 2017, Lowe's operated 2,141 home improvement and hardware stores in the United States, Canada and Mexico representing 214.1 million square feet of retail selling space.

Serving more than 17 million customers a week in the United States, Canada and Mexico. With fiscal year 2016 sales of $65.0 billion, Lowe's and its related businesses operate or service more than 2,370 home improvement and hardware stores and employ over 290,000 people. lowes.com

Signet Jewelers buys JamesAllen.com

Lowe's to open 25 stores this year & adding store staffing hours during peak traffic times

NRF: More Parents Holding Off on Back-to-School Shopping

Destination Maternity Hires Consulting Group to "Assess its Options"


Quarterly Same Store Sales Results

Ross Stores Q2 comp's up 3%
Williams Sonoma Q2 comp's up 2.8%, net sales up 3.7%
Tilly's Q2 comp's up 2.1%, net sales up 1.8%
Tiffany Q2 comp's down 2%, net sales up 3%, first half comp's down 2%, net sales up 2%
Regis Corp (Salons) Q4 comp's up 0.4%, net sales down 5.3%, full yr comp's down 1.8%, revenue down 5.5%
Abercrombie & Fitch Q2 Abercrombie comp's down 7%, Hollister up 3%, total comp's down 3%, net sales down 1%
J Crew Q2 comp's down 8%, Madewell comp's up 11%, total sales down 2%
Guess? Q2 America's comp's down 10%, Europe comp's up 5%, Asia comp's up 7%, net revenue up 5.3%
Sears Holdings Q2 comp's down 11.5%, Kmart comp's down 9.4%, Sears comp's down 13.2%, sales down 22.8%
 

USS Reveals LPRC Tactical Tagging Study Results

RANCHO CUCAMONGA, Calif. (August 21, 2017) - Retail security technology provider and innovator, USS, unveiled the results of a recent study conducted by the Loss Prevention Retail Council (LPRC), to test the benefits of their Tactical Tagging loss prevention strategy utilizing their Mini Patriot electronic article surveillance (EAS) products.

Tactical Tagging is an asset protection approach that aims to confuse and deter thieves and organized retail crime (ORC) members, while saving retailers' loss prevention budgets. By incorporating EAS tags of varying levels of protection and technology, yet appear to be identical from a cosmetic perspective, retailers are able to mitigate inventory shrink without impacting their EAS budget. For this study, LPRC used USS' Mini Patriot Pin EAS tags in single, double and triple alarm configurations.

The study, conducted from June 2015 through February 2016, included a 12-month, in-store trial at four retail locations. Data was collected from shoplifters (referred to henceforth as offenders), customers, and associates who were familiar with the existing EAS solutions being used in the stores.

The results from the in-depth study strongly indicate that USS' tactical tagging strategy and accompanying Mini Patriot EAS tags, overwhelmingly achieve their goals. Noteworthy statistics from the research include:

   ● 100 percent of offenders noticed the tags
   ● 100 percent of offenders believed the three tag variations were identical
   ● 100 percent of associates with experience using both solutions preferred the new solution
   ● Overall, customers believed the tags to be effective crime deterrents
   ● The rate of tag defeats were nearly cut in half

The LPRC-issued whitepaper featured a summarizing statement that captured the sentiments regarding the tags' and strategy's performance during the study.

"LPRC concludes that the Mix Tag (Tactical Tagging) intervention is a strong offender deterrent that has nearly unanimous associate approval and does not appear to have a negative impact on customers."

The tag featured in the study, the USS Mini Patriot, is available in pin or lanyard form with acousto-magnetic (AM) and/or radio frequency (RF) EAS technologies, as well as the recently announced radio frequency identification (RFID) technology variation.

To read the full LPRC study and its results, visit: http://ussinnovate.com/free-resources/

$40B Global Fraud
Fight Food fraud leads Walmart and food producers to try blockchain
Walmart, Alibaba and others test the technology derived from cryptocurrency to track food through the supply chain.

Some of the biggest food companies are backing technology that grew out of the anarchic world of crypto-currencies. It's called blockchain, essentially a shared, cryptographically secure ledger of transactions and can trace products regardless of whether those goods are sold online or in stores.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc., No. 3 in the Internet Retailer 2017 Top 50 and the world's largest retailer, was one of the first to get on board, just completing a trial using blockchain technology to track pork in China, where it has more than 400 stores. The time taken to track the meat's supply chain was cut from 26 hours to just seconds using blockchain, and the scope of the project is being widened to other products, Frank Yiannas, Wal-Mart's vice president for food safety, said earlier this month.

Alibaba Group Holding Ltd., too, sees the potential for the eight-year-old technology to provide greater product integrity across its platforms, which accounted for more than 75% of China's online retail sales in 2015. The planned blockchain project will involve the Chinese e-commerce behemoth working with food suppliers in Australia and New Zealand, as well as Australia Post and auditors PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP.

"Food fraud is a serious global issue," said Maggie Zhou, managing director for Alibaba in Australia and New Zealand. "This project is the first step in creating a globally respected framework that protects the reputation of food merchants and gives consumers further confidence to purchase food online."

Fraud costs the global food industry as much as $40 billion annually, according to John Spink, director of Michigan State University's Food Fraud Initiative.

Blockchain could play an important role in improving traceability. Its database of records can be built like a chain and can't be broken or re-ordered without disrupting the entire connection. digitalcommrce360.com

Going Undercover Investigating 15 Dark Web Vendors
Probing the online phish market reveals thriving, profitable underworld
A new study has lifted the lid on the booming ecosystems of fake websites that underpin phishing scams, revealing a wide variety of prices and products from cheap knock-ups to bespoke fraud services offering concierge-level customer support.

Infosec firm Clearsky surfed popular Russian and English-speaking underground boards and forums, looking for fake webpage creation services. Making direct contact with vendors of fake sites via instant messaging (mostly Jabber) to tease out more intelligence about their skills, offers and pricing.

Clearsky went through this process with 15 different phishing vendors, checking the prices for two main types of fake sites: a fraudulent banking login page designed to harvest credentials, and a counterfeit page that would not exist on a real banking website designed to trick marks into entering their credit card number, expiration date and CVV number.

In many cases duplicate websites are blocked by Chrome/Safari, one phishing site vendor told the security researchers. Another vendor offered to add a filter to prolong the pre-exposure lifetime of the fake website.

More qualified vendors discussed how to keep fake websites under the radar for the greatest amount of time while script-kiddie types fail to grasp the difference between between simply duplicating a website and developing a fake from scratch, Clearsky discovered. Some of the vendors, duplicate the website and make basic "cleaning" i.e. basic changes in HTML and content, it adds.

The average price for banking login pages is about $60. Those who just duplicate the original site charge about $20-30 and those who develop the fake website from scratch ask for $50 or more, with some vendors quoting up to $200.

When researchers asked about pricing for additional pages that don't exist at real websites - those designed to steal credit card data - the fee tended to be significantly higher because it required extra development and design work.

Some vendors also develop tools and control panels (example below) that make it easier for would-be cybercriminals to collect and potentially resell stolen credentials.

"Most of the vendors work very hard to promote their services, constantly pump up their topics in different forums, and although the basic pricing of most of them is relatively low, in order to gain proper reputation, they offer various kinds of actions and discount," the researchers said.

Clearsky's full report, The Economy behind Phishing Websites Creation, can be found here (PDF). theregister.co.uk

Keeps Them From Getting In
Validates Senders Domain
Phish Bait: DMARC Adoption Failures Leave 90% Companies Exposed
More than 90% of Fortune 500 companies leave customers and brand names vulnerable to domain name spoofing as a result of not fully implementing DMARC.

More than 90% of Fortune 500 companies have not fully adopted Domain-based Message Authentication, Report & Conformance (DMARC), leaving customers, business partners, and brand names exposed to phishing and other attacks that impersonate corporate email domains.

DMARC is a standard technology designed to verify whether an email is from the domain it claims to be from. It creates a whitelist of verified senders, and ensures only authenticated emails are delivered; fake messages are deleted before users see them. It can also be used to see how scammers are misusing corporate information in their attacks. darkreading.com

Sr. Director, Information Security Services, Carters, Atlanta, GA
This role is responsible for establishing, maintaining and overseeing the enterprise-wide vision, strategy, architecture, policies and programs to ensure information assets are protected, while maintaining an understanding and managing the risks and challenges facing the company and the retail industry.

The largest branded marketer in the United States of apparel and related products exclusively for babies and young children. The Company owns the Carter's and OshKosh B'gosh brands. Sold in leading department stores, national chains, and specialty retailers domestically and internationally. Also sold through more than 900 Company-operated stores in the United States and Canada and on-line. submit4jobs.com

New Position for 7-Eleven?
Director Data & Analytics - 7-Eleven, Irving, TX
Stands up a new Data & Analytics capability for 7-Eleven's IT organization and mobilizes a data management team. Stewards 7-Eleven's data asset for the organization. Determines data and analytics strategy to increase data capabilities and to transform disparate data into information for business insights. icims.com

In 2011, 7‑Eleven celebrated the 40,000th store-opening milestone. In early 2013, store number 50,000 opened. The fast-paced expansion is fueled through acquisitions, often hundreds of locations at a time, and through franchising. 7‑Eleven has been recognized as a global leader in franchise opportunities. Through 86 years in business, 7‑Eleven's mission is still to serve its customers at its more than 50,900 stores around the world. 7-eleven.com

What's behind a new threat to online commerce
Retailers of all types from luxury merchants to supermarkets are increasingly under gift card fraud attacks these days, two recent research reports found, and the situation is getting worse as fraudsters grow more creative through automation.

In February, an advanced persistent bot known as GiftGhostBot surfaced, according to bot detection firm Distil Networks, and in less than a month had attacked almost 1,000 websites.

GiftGhostBot is a card cracking, or token cracking, attack, which means the fraudsters use automation to test a rolling list of potential account numbers and request the balance. If the balance is provided, the bot operator knows that the account number exists and contains funds. Armed with that information, the account number can be used to purchase goods, or the cards can be sold on the dark web.

Impacting data

Bad bots account for roughly 20 percent of all internet traffic, says Distil Networks CEO Rami Essaid. They are capable of dozens of unique automated threats, and depending on the individual business, can impact factors such as conversion rates, traffic scores and customer satisfaction rates.

Distil analysts recently recorded 4 million bad bot requests per hour on one website, nearly 10 times its normal traffic, Essaid says.

Any website with gift card processing capability, including checking a gift card balance or replenishing funds, is a potential target.

Although retailers are not themselves being defrauded, they still must invest time, labor and money to successfully handle dissatisfied customers asking for refunds. Their retail businesses are also suffering on the front end of the attack, Essaid says.

'Criminal profiteering'

According to recent tracking research from Flashpoint, cybercriminals are increasingly using the deep web and the dark web to buy and sell fraudulent gift cards. Flashpoint analyst Olivia Rowley says this is a type of crime that has "grown substantially over the last several years because it can yield significant financial rewards at a relatively low risk for criminals."

Unlike bank-issued credit and debit cards, gift cards are not held to strict anti-fraud standards, which means that many gift cards may lack common yet effective security features aimed to help combat fraud.

In addition to being a very "low-risk" type of fraud because a perpetrator can pretend they didn't know anything about the history of the card, gift cards can be used at a multitude of businesses. To incentivize sales, "Many vendors of fraudulent gift cards sell their wares at a fraction of their actual value on the card," she says.

Gift cards were being treated by fraudsters as a way to cash out stolen credit cards, the Flashpoint report notes, an activity known as "carded" gift cards. Retailers caught on to that approach, though, and increased security measures around the purchase and use of gift cards.

That led to inventive cybercriminals developing a way to obtain non-carded gift cards by identifying legitimately issued and purchased gift cards that were unused and maintained a balance. Some have developed bots to automate the process, which led to GiftGhostBot's emergence.

Automated threats

Flashpoint recommends that retailers require correct personal identification numbers to check balances or restrict gift cards to in-store purchases. Merchants should also use a CAPTCHA system for all online purchases made with gift cards, which protects websites against bots by generating and grading tests that humans can pass but current computer programs cannot. stores.org

Q2 2017 E-Commerce Grows 16.2% in US

e-Commerce Holiday Sales to Increase 16.6%

Online growth propels Express - Online sales increased 28% over last year

Canadian e‑commerce surges more than 43% in June as retailers produce a record first half

Memphis, TN: Kroger grocery store employee accused of stealing more than $25,000 in groceries
Police responded to an embezzlement call at Kroger on Wednesday. The Regional Organized Retail Crime Manager for Kroger told police he received information that a night stocker, Marvin Cash, had been stealing food multiple times per week during his shift over the past 9 years. When confronted, Cash reportedly admitted to stealing about $500 worth of groceries a week -- mostly food -- and that he had been stealing at that rate for a year, and less before then. daytondailynews.com

Green Bay, WI: Two charged in $12,000 UW-Green Bay textbook theft
Ryan Lewis, 33, and Genesis Abellar, 33, were arrested in Houston Wednesday while they were trying to sell the books online. Lewis and Abellar are accused of going on the UW-Green Bay campus and breaking into locked academic offices and taking more than 60 textbooks. Investigators say there were similar crimes reported on other UW school campuses throughout the state, as well as the University of North Dakota and Minnesota State University Moorhead. fox11online.com

Update: Fort Wayne, IN: Warrants issued for 2 men who hit 5 Kroger stores; focused on liquor thefts for 2 months
The two men were strangers to Fort Wayne but got to know five Kroger stores well as they pillaged the liquor department for two months last year. Zachary T. Bishop, 20, of Jacksonville, AR and Ethan A. Pettiet, 19, of Summerville, SC, were caught on Kroger surveillance camera numerous times entering a store with a pack of people called "unknown suspects". In court papers filed Wednesday, both men were charged with corrupt business influence after they were found to be associated with racketeering activity or organized retail crime thefts. The general method of operation was to take bottles of liquor and then hide in another aisle and remove the security caps with an alpha key. The thieves would hide the caps on a shelf and conceal the bottles under their waistbands. Loss prevention officers provided 27 documented surveillance incidents at five area Kroger stores where Pettiet or Bishop were involved. journalgazette.net


Shreveport, LA: Woman shoplifts 18 bottles of booze from liquor store in 2 1/2 minutes
The woman made the her way around the entire store over the course of about two and a half minutes, grabbing 18 bottles of wine and hard liquor and stuffing them insider her purse, bra and even her crotch. Store security video also shows the woman taking a single bottle of wine to the register and handing it to the clerk. Another woman also reported stood watch at one point before following the woman out the door. wbrz.com


La Crosse, WI: Man steals 60 bottles of Baby formula and 28 cases of Energy drinks
Cody B. Grosskruetz, 32, was referred to the district attorney for theft. He is accused of leaving Walmart with 20 bottles of baby formula, 12 cases of energy drinks and a wristwatch without paying June 27. He allegedly returned Aug. 5 and allegedly left the store with 16 cases of energy drinks and 40 bottles of baby formula. Tomah police were informed that the Menomonie Police arrested Grosskruetz Aug. 8. Walmart is seeking restitution totaling nearly $1,700. lacrossetribune.com


Bakersfield, CA: Police seeking suspect of Bed, Bath, and Beyond Theft
The Bakersfield Police Department is asking for assistance in identifying and locating the suspect responsible for three separate theft investigations. All thefts occurred at the Bed Bath and Beyond, on Stockdale Highway. During each theft the suspect would enter the business, select several items of merchandise, and exit the store without paying for the items. turnto23.com

Shootings, Threats & Deaths

Fresno, CA: Update - Two suspects in Jewelry Store Murder are captured by Police
Two teens wanted in the Aug. 5 robbery and murder at the Stereo & DJ Outlet /Mari's Jewelry Store were arrested Wednesday by Fresno police. They were the last two identified suspects sought in the shooting death of Christopher Leon, 22, of Fresno. One person remains at large and is not yet identified. fresnobee.com



Two Injured During Drive-By Shooting in Mid City Strip Mall
At approximately 9:15 p.m Wednesday night., the Los Angeles Fire Department responded to a shooting in the 8500 block of Venice Boulevard. One person received multiple gunshot wounds and was taken to a hospital in critical condition, according to Police. Another woman, who was eating at a Subway restaurant with her children at the time, was injured by shattered glass from the broken window. Authorities believe the gunman acted alone and are investigating the shooting. nbclosangeles.com

Lake Havasu, AZ: Man threatens to crash into grocery store, kill himself and others
A Lake Havasu City man was arrested Aug. 9 after he said he was going to crash his truck into a grocery store on Acoma Blvd. and he also threatened to harm himself and others inside the store. According to a police report, McBee had made several threatening statements in texts and emails to a woman who filed an order of protection against him. havasunews.com

Robberies & Thefts

Denver, CO: Stolen gun selfies lead Police smash-and-grab thief
An 18-year-old Denver man has been arrested after he left several clues to his involvement in a string of smash-and-grab burglaries from gun shops in the city. Police were able to track down Viet Trinh after the teen sent photographs of himself with stolen weapons, bragging about being armed and threatening to kill police. denverpost.com


Forrest City, AR: Taco Bell employee accused of stealing $1,200 in cash

New Philadelphia, OH: Police track down Kay's Jewelers Distraction Thief recovering a $2,299 Ring; his home info was on Credit App

Kay Jewelers in the Moreno Valley Mall, Moreno Valley, CA reported a Grab & Run on 8/23, item valued at $629

Credit Card Fraud & ID Theft

Ranlo, NC: Suspect in theft of Millions escapes police car
A man believed to have stolen more than $2 million by creating several fake identities escaped the security of a locked cop car Tuesday morning in Ranlo. Police say they remain unsure of the man's identity. Evidence in the case covered a table at the Ranlo Police Department. The items included several guns, a semi-automatic AR-15 among them, cartons of bullets, fake ID cards the suspect created and real credit cards he obtained.

The ID cards came from Utah, Texas, Florida and both Carolinas, and included names like Joe Patterson. Officers believe the suspect's real name may actually be Juan Sebastian Cardona. Investigators began making a case against the man last week.

Ranlo Police rolled up on the man's Wicklow Drive home on Aug. 16 in response to a gunshots-related noise complaint. The man police know as Cardona reportedly got into a car, turned onto a dead end street and walked into a random house.

Cardona told police he knew the people inside, but the residents reported that he was a stranger, according to Ranlo Police Chief Tim Anderson. Cops found eight ID cards on Cardona that day, including three North Carolina driver's licenses with different names on them and a concealed weapons permit from South Carolina. They found a .45-caliber gun in the vehicle, as well.

A magistrate judge granted police a search warrant to go inside Cardona's house. There, they say they found counterfeit Social Security cards and financial forms. Police concluded he had access to bank accounts worth multiple millions of dollars. shelbystar.com

Charges - Arrests - Sentencings

San Francisco, CA: 3 men charged in jewelry store heist

DeKalb, IL: Cellphone store robbery ringleaders convicted

Reading, PA: Reading woman pleads guilty to stealing designer perfume, assaulting store personnel

Lockwood, MT: Suspected cellphone store robber apprehended near MetraPark

Norfolk, VA: Man arrested in McDonald's shooting pleads guilty

Hot Springs, AR: Police charge man in gas station death

North Haven, CT: Man charged in robbery of Dunkin Donuts

Santa Ana, CA: Four Arrests Made In Serial Theft Ring

Queens, NY: Man sentenced to 11 years for Roosevelt Field mall shooting

Lafayette, LA: U.S. Post office janitor pleads guilty to mail theft

Counterfeit

Newport, RI: Police seize $700K worth of counterfeit goods
Newport police said they seized $700,000 worth of counterfeit goods. Police seized a number of fake Louis Vuitton, Michael Kors, Tory Burch and Chanel items from a seven different locations, including two Be Dazzled stores, two Heaven on Earth stores, two Vintage to Vogue shops and a Chez Shell. Detectives raided the businesses after a two-month investigation found a number of businesses were selling hundreds of suspected counterfeit goods, such as jewelry, handbags and purses. turnto10.com

None to report.

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The Power of Having a Mentor
 

Good Mentors Can Take Your Career to the Next Level. Here's How to Find One  Figuring out your career path, or how to reach success for yourself can be tough, so it's a great idea to get guidance from someone who's been where you are now. No matter what you want to achieve, no matter your skill level, a mentor can help kick start your goals. Test the water

The Power of Mentorship: Lessons from Mike Trout, 'Moonlight' and Warren Buffet  You'll hear stories of how people like Warren Buffet and MVP baseball player Mike Trout reached their success with the help of their mentors. Mentorships hold a lot of power, and can transform lives for the better. Finding the right mentor is an art

How to Tell If You Have a Truly Outstanding Mentor  The dynamic between you and your mentor should be relaxed and comfortable. It should never feel like an imposition, or forced. If your mentor helps you by introducing you to the right people to network with, gives you great advice, and listens to you, you've got a great mentor. Something to look forward to

6 Ways to Find a Career Mentor and What to Look For  Working with a mentor is one of the most important investments in your future. No matter your goals, a great mentor can give you feedback and insight that only comes from having the experience they do. Here's what you can do to make your search easy. Current connections

Change is the only constant. Embracing it and dealing with it, while absolutely necessary, can be a daunting task that is difficult for everyone. Psychologists believe that humans strive to eliminate fear by avoiding change when, in fact, change can be the best thing for us. Those that run to it usually are in front, and those that avoid it most of the time end up in the rear.

Just a Thought,
Gus

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