In Case You Missed It

November's Moving Ups

18 New Senior LP's - 13 Appointments - 5 Promotions

Areas, United States promoted Thomas Stein, CFI to Director of Operations
Ascena Retail Group, Inc. promoted Robert LaCommare, CFI to Vice President Asset Protection & Safety
Cam Connections, a division of ADT/Protection 1, promoted Garret King to Regional IS Sales Manager
Dunham's Sports promoted Tom Cairns to Director Loss Prevention, Audit and Firearms Compliance
Golub Corporation/Price Chopper Supermarkets promoted Scott Ziter to Vice President of Risk Management
Helzberg Diamonds promoted Tim Lapinski, CFI to Divisional VP - Enterprise Risk Management, LP and Sales Audit
Iverify promoted Dave Heller to VP Chief Sales Officer
Lowe's promoted Matt Mothershed to Senior Information Security Analyst, Third Party Risk Management
Lowe's promoted Todd Isenhour to Director of Human Resources Field Operations - North Division
National Retail Federation promoted Kyra Hicks to Senior Director, Marketing Insights and Analysis
OSHA named FedEx Ground's VP of Safety Scott Mugno as Head
Pet Club named Justin Bowers, CFI Senior Manager of Loss Prevention
PetSmart promoted Bryan Hillman to West Area Director LP and Safety
US Security Associates named Carlos Perez Vice President of Marketing
Varo Money, Inc. named John Mearls Director of Fraud
VICTRA (formerly A Wireless) named Steve Mick Vice President of Asset Protection
Xanterra Parks & Resorts promoted Justin Curtis to Director of Risk Management

Submit Your New Corporate Hires/Promotions or New Position

Call for Entries: 2018 (R)Tech Asset Protection Innovation Awards
Technologies that Reduce 'Total Retail Loss'
The Retail Industry Leaders Association (RILA), the trade association for the world's largest and most innovative retail companies, today announced it is accepting applications for the 2018 (R)Tech Asset Protection Innovation Awards. The Awards showcase game-changing technology that mitigates total retail loss and recognizes visionary companies that are developing these solutions.

Applicants are asked to demonstrate how their technology reduces the losses outlined in the Total Retail Loss (TRL) report, a study RILA commissioned in conjunction with the University of Leicester. The report is the first ever study that examines how the retail industry understands the nature and extent of all the potential types of losses they presently experience, and provides an overview of the top needs and challenges of the retail asset protection community.

"We've entered into such an exciting time in retail, wherein technology and innovation are solving for industry-wide challenges at a rapid pace and enabling opportunities for asset protection and customer service like we've never seen before," said Lisa LaBruno, RILA's senior vice president of retail operations. "These awards not only recognize solution providers for their innovative thinking and design, but also empower them to connect directly with the retailers they're aiming to help. We're looking forward to celebrating this confluence of retail and technology in Orlando next spring."

"The exposure and prestige of winning the 2017 RILA Innovation Award opened many doors for Digital Safety (DiSa). As a result, DiSa has been engaged by retailers in Europe, North America, and Latin America on implementing our solution," said Adam Hartaway, CEO of Digital Safety, a winner at last year's awards.

A panel of top executives in retail asset protection will review all submissions and winners will be announced at RILA's 2018 Retail Asset Protection Conference, April 29-May 2 in Orlando, Florida.

Entries are due by March 9, 2018. For more information, visit the awards homepage.

Inventory Integration Drives Loss Prevention Efforts at DSW
Profitect's software as a service platform of eight autonomous, fully integratable modules approaches the challenge with a singular goal - extract data from myriad sources and transform it into clearly stated prescriptives, instructing store management and associates on specific actions to take based on the system's
extrapolation.

Profitect's inventory module is also useful in loss prevention. CEO Guy Yehiav says the system can take traditional exception-based data to the level of an individual till.

"We can look to the data to see why an individual associate's drawer came up short. Perhaps he is coupon stacking or 'sweethearting.' We can then offer directives to managers to take appropriate actions."

The same module can also provide prescriptives to analyze inventory issues stemming from damage and waste, markdowns, inventory distortion and other factors.

Profitect client DSW has found that the inventory module alone has yielded substantial benefits. A customer
since 2014 when Profitect rolled out the inventory module, DSW has seen improvements in loss prevention, inventory control and merchandise planning and analysis. An especially useful feature of the system is its ability to be mastered by people with non-technical backgrounds.

"Profitect can take very detailed data and express it in layman's terms for anybody to be able to interpret with those prescriptive actions," says Jordan Rivchun, director of loss prevention at DSW. "We're bringing data from hundreds of sources that are not themselves related, but the system allows us to paint a picture if something is either good, bad or neutral that we need to take action on." profitect.com

The Fourth Amendment - The Expectation of Privacy
Supreme Court Privacy Case - Robbery Conviction Based on Warrantless Cell Phone Tracking
Follow the Supreme Court Arguments & Questioning
As Justice Sotomayor and several other Justices pointed out-the oral arguments made it clear that both liberals and conservatives on the Court were troubled-prosecutors could, by the government's standard, have asked for almost anything. Soon enough, they could ask for more than we can even imagine now.

"Most Americans, I still think, want to avoid Big Brother," Sotomayor said. And Americans had an expectation that the government should not be able to track and closely observe them anywhere, anytime-even in the past-without probable cause and a warrant. "That's not a new standard," Sotomayor said. "That''s an old standard"-as old as the Constitution.

I don't want to make predictions about Carpenter, but plainly the Court is *much* more concerned about the privacy implications of new technology today than it was five years ago." He added, "Q: What would Carpenter argument have been like without @Snowden's disclosures?" It's a good question; one thing that Edward Snowden revealed was how far the government, in secret, would go in stretching, indeed distorting, old definitions in order to allow it to use new surveillance technology. newyorker.com

Pilot Flying J $84M Rebate Fraud Trial of Entire Sales Team
How did Haslam, the CEO & Owner, Not Know About it? Never Charged - Brother's Tenn.'s Governor
"Jimmy Haslam has had a terrible month, and it has nothing to do with his awful NFL team"
It's been more than 55 months since FBI and IRS agents raided Pilot Flying J headquarters in Knoxville, Tenn.

The almost-daily accounts this month - as Hazelwood, former Pilot Flying J vice president Scott Wombold and former regional account representatives Heather Jones and Karen Mann have been on trial in U.S. District Court in Chattanooga - that have shifted a lot of the focus on the case back to Haslam himself.

After years of claiming he had no knowledge of his twenty member sales team that was ripping off dozens of trucking firms in a sophisticated rebate fraud scheme that required spread sheets, cover-ups, complete team buy in, training of new sales team members, etc., etc.

But the trial hasn't been kind to Haslam, whose voice was heard on a secret recording that was played in court Tuesday.

"Sounds like Stick's old deal with Western," Haslam can be heard saying, in reference to former Pilot vice president of sales John "Stick" Freeman.

Freeman was recorded admitting he was caught cheating Western Express out of rebates it had earned. To make up for it, Pilot bought a broken-down airplane from the Nashville company for $1 million.

"I mean, (Haslam) knew all along that I was cost-plussin' this guy," Freeman said. "He knew it all along. Loved it. We were making $450,000 a month on (Western Express)."

"Cost-plussin" was Pilot code for fraud. And Freeman said the top executives - Haslam and Hazelwood - were well aware of a scheme that was so prevalent at Pilot that it was TAUGHT at training sessions.

In other testimony you have the first Regional who was arrested at his home in Phoenix making his first call in front of the FBI straight to Haslam saying "Jimmy they caught us" and in another hearing you hear how Haslam was present when they were looking at spreadsheets of the fraudulent activity.

The company admitted criminal responsibility and paid the $90M+ fine and pays $84M back to trucking companies. Then last month sells 38.6% of the company to Warren Buffet with a deal set to take 80% by 2023.  crainscleveland.com

Security Bag Checks - Just a 'Fact of Life'?
Numerous major national retailers have been hit with class-action cases challenging uncompensated exit inspections, and most of these have settled for seven-figure payments. Nike Retail Services and Converse decided to fight the claims in court and won in decisions issued this past September and October. The companies maintained that the bag checks or the visual inspections of those who did not have bags took mere seconds, but the employees claimed they lasted minutes.

Employees said that the exit inspections took especially long during the holiday season. Some asserted that it took as long as 15 minutes to wait for a manager who could make the inspection, stand in line to exit and finally be inspected each time they departed the store, whether for a break or for the day. But the companies reviewed video footage, which showed the inspections were less than a minute, said Jon Meer, an attorney who represented the two companies in their separate litigation.

The court in both cases - Nike Retail Services and Converse - the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California - held that security inspections are a fact of life in today's business world and it is impossible for employers to eliminate all time spent off the clock, Meer noted. The court also decided that hourly employees should accept that up to 10 minutes per day may be uncompensated, based on the realities of the modern workplace, he added.

While the Nike and Converse decisions are certainly helpful for employers generally, they are by no means the end of this issue as a litigation matter," the facts of any particular employer's security checks will be unique, which could lead to different judicial outcomes, he noted.

Employers, especially in California, "should continue to be thoughtful about how they implement security checks of their employees," he said. He noted that the safest approach is to compensate employees for time spent waiting for and undergoing security checks.

If a company does not want to pay for trivial amounts of time off the clock, it should ensure that time spent waiting for security checks truly is de minimis, he said.

The California Supreme Court soon will decide whether California recognizes the de minimis doctrine in an upcoming ruling in another case (Troester v. Starbucks Corp.). shrm.org

Gun Store Burglaries Spiking Nationwide
Last year, federal licensees reported 7,488 guns stolen in burglaries to the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. The national figure increased 59 percent in a year; licensees reported 4,721 stolen guns by burglary in 2015. For years 2012 through 2014, the highest number of guns stolen by burglary was 4,340 in 2012.

The number of burglaries has also increased, ATF data show, trending up from 377 reported burglaries in 2012 to 558 last year.

There are no federal laws for how brick-and-mortar gun shops should secure weapons. Only nine states, according to the Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence, have rules mandating some type of security standards for gun dealers.

A recent investigation by the Tampa Bay Times and Reveal from the Center for Investigative Reporting found that loose security at gun shops can lead to more stolen guns. Of 20 burglaries the journalists examined, there were at least 13 cases where the stolen guns had been hanging on walls or stored in glass cases. stltoday.com

Amazon Responds to Allegations of Poor Working Conditions
Amazon has issued a statement in response to allegations of poor working conditions at its warehouse in Essex, outside London, where employees are allegedly being asked to fulfill unrealistic daily targets.

"We offer great jobs and a positive environment with opportunities for growth. As with most companies, we expect a certain level of performance," read the statement. "Targets are based on previous performance achieved by our workers. Associates are evaluated over a long period of time as we know a variety of things could impact the ability to meet expectations in any given day or hour."

The statement follows a number of British media reports, which state that workers at Amazon's facility in Essex are forced to work overtime during the period leading up to Christmas and work an average of 55 hours per week.

According to the Sunday Mirror, a British tabloid paper, an undercover reporter also witnessed workers falling asleep or collapsing and being attended to by ambulance crews, as they could not cope with the targets imposed by their employer. wwd.com

Grocery Delivery: Consider the Legal Ramifications
The shift in the way consumers purchase groceries creates potential liability questions for grocery stores. Unlike the shipment of merchandise, the delivery of perishables from grocery stores creates unique liability issues that should be considered.

Potential Liability for Grocers There are precautions that can be taken to limit liability. In any formal agreement, grocers should consider:

● Conduct due diligence before partnering with a third-party delivery service because your reputation could be at risk
● Requiring compliance with industry standards for safe food handling, including temperature maintenance and procedures to follow in case a customer is unavailable to take delivery of the groceries at the time specified
● Requiring third-party delivery service to carry insurance coverage which names the grocery store(s) as an additional insured
● Including strong indemnification terms which provide for a full shift of responsibility to the third-party delivery service for any claims arising from a consumer's use of the third-party delivery service services
● Requiring third-party delivery service and its drivers to actively disclaim any agency relationship with the store
● Requiring proof of insurance by the third-party delivery service and for any driver the third-party delivery service utilizes, including the requirement of clear vehicle ownership by the third-party delivery service driver or third-party delivery service service
● Partnering with a third-party delivery service that uses tracking technology so that the "chain of custody" can be firmly established to aid in the defense of food borne illness cases
● Including a confidentiality provision that prohibits a third-party delivery service from using or disbursing consumer information in any manner, including prohibiting the third-party delivery service from providing information to competitors. progressivegrocer.com

California: Proposition 47 makes stealing a car worth $950 or less a misdemeanor offense, court rules
A person convicted of a felony for stealing a car may have that conviction reduced to a misdemeanor if the vehicle was worth no more than $950, the California Supreme Court decided unanimously Thursday. The decision came in a case interpreting Proposition 47, a 2014 ballot measure that reduced felonies for certain drug and theft crimes to misdemeanors. latimes.com

Newark Police to resume undercover shoplifting stings
So far this year, NPD has responded to 171 shoplifting reports and filed more than 60 charges. Those statistics are roughly on par with this time last year.

NPD first conducted the undercover anti-shoplifting initiative last December in response to a 70 percent increase in shoplifting reports from the previous year. Last year's initiative resulted in the arrests of at least 18 people on more than 50 charges, including theft and drug possession, officials reported at the time. newarkpostonline.com

Toys R Us Asks To Delay Closures For Holiday Season
Toys R Us Inc. on Tuesday asked a Virginia bankruptcy court for permission to delay for three months decisions on which store leases to maintain so that all of its locations can remain open during the holiday season, while the U.S. Trustee blasted the retailer's request to pay workers up to $100 million in bonuses. law360.com

Porch Pirate Apologizes after Social Media Shaming
The social media shaming of a man who stole a package from a Riverton, Utah porch appears to have worked. Homeowner Shawn Kojima now has his property back, along with a letter of apology. Kojima said the letter, penned in red ink, appeared along with the package and a small stuffed animal.

"To whom it may concern, I am writing you this letter to apologize for the scumbag move I made the other day," the sender of the letter wrote. "When ringing the doorbell, that was not my intentions. I was looking to ask if your vinyl fence was for sale. I do not know what came over me. It will never happen again. Once again I am truly sorry for my inconvenience and selfish ways. If you ever need anything I will be at your service." kwqc.com

Register for 2018 Training - Get a FREE 1-Year IAI Membership!
NEW IN 2018, attend a WZ open registration course and become eligible for a one-year FREE International Association of Interviewers (IAI) Membership! Simply register for a 2018 WZ private sector open registration course, complete a course evaluation and automatically receive a one-year FREE IAI Membership valued at $75.00. (Only applicable to new IAI members.)

Check out the entire 2018 Training Schedule online HERE. Find your ideal training program when using available sorting features. Search by course, location or date.

Lucky's Market - Director of AP job posting taken down

Macy's will hire 7,000 additional seasonal workers after strong start to holidays

Sears looks to turn around with small store concepts

Amazon, Nike, Toys R Us among the top U.S. companies for diversity

Hadley, MA: Hampshire Mall will be site of 'active shooter' training Saturday morning

Tulsa, OK: Man charged with 13 counts of making videos of women in Woodland Hills Mall dressing rooms

Quarterly Results
Ulta Beauty Q3 comp's up 10.3%, net sales up 18.6%
Michael's Q3 comp's up 1%, sales up 1.1%
Canada's Leon's Q3 comp's up 0.5%, sales up 4.7%

The Hostile Internal Threat
UK Supermarket Morrisons Found Liable for Sr. Employee's 'Grudge' Data Leak
Morrisons has been found liable for the actions of a former member of its staff who stole the data of 100,000 employees and posted it online.

Workers brought a claim against the company after employee Andrew Skelton stole the data, including salary and bank details, of nearly 100,000 staff.

The High Court ruling now allows those affected to claim compensation for the "upset and distress" caused. The case is the first data leak class action in the UK. Morrisons said it believed it should not have been held responsible and would be appealing against the decision.

The case follows a security breach in 2014 when Skelton, then a senior internal auditor at the retailer's Bradford headquarters, leaked the payroll data of employees. He posted the information - including names, addresses, bank account details and salaries - online and and sent it to newspapers.

Skelton's motive appeared to have been a grudge over an incident when he was accused of dealing so-called legal highs at work.  bbc.com

Your new personal assistant?
Amazon says its voice aide Alexa is ready for the office
Amazon wants to be your new executive assistant at work. The company on Thursday said that Alexa, its increasingly popular digital aide that shoppers command by voice, is now programmed to handle a range of tedious office tasks.

Businesses can buy Alexa devices that help employees dial into conference calls, manage their calendars, find open meeting rooms and - not surprisingly - order work supplies from Amazon. reuters.com

Firefox tests in-browser breached site notifications
Firefox is testing out a warning system that will notify users when they visit breached sites and offer the option to be notified if a site they previously visited becomes breached in the future.

The "Breach Alerts" will not prevent a user from visiting a site but will give them some sort of idea that the sites security features are less than optimal using data provided by Have I Been Pwned?. scmagazine.com

REI - Director Information Security & Data Privacy job posting taken down

Kirkland's home decor retailer sued for printing too many CC digits on receipts

The global retail RFID security tags market is forecasted to grow at a CAGR of 38.26% during the period 2017-2021

Lawsuits Pile Up on Uber

The Loss Prevention Research Council's
Impact Conference Oct. 2-4 2017, A Six Episode Series

Command & Control: SOCLab Operations

Episode 6

Fred Becker, Corporate Director of Loss Prevention, Bloomingdale's
Tom Meehan, Chief Strategy Officer & Chief Information Security Officer, CONTROLTEK USA

In this sixth and final episode of our 2017 "Precision LP Impact" Conference series, learn about the LPRC's Command & Control: Security Operations Center Lab (or SOCLab) Operations.

Fred Becker of Bloomingdales and Tom Meehan, formerly of Bloomingdales and now with CONTROLTEK USA, walk us through the LPRC's SOCLab Innovation Chain plans and how the many ways they're working to support strategic crisis and investigative operations.

This LPNN special series was designed to give you a thorough understanding of the only team-driven LP & AP academic efforts in retail history.

We hope you watch the entire series and learn how an academic approach is helping LP & AP impact the Total Retail Enterprise.

If you would like to learn more about the LPRC or get involved, please visit lpresearch.org.
 

Sponsored By:

The Cyber Grinch Is Coming To Retailers
Fraud is on the rise, especially account takeover fraud, and the growing sophistication of fraudsters - paired with the massive quantities of credit card and personal information now available on the dark web - could create a perfect storm for cybercriminals around the world this holiday season.

In fact, Signifyd director of merchant advocacy, Sourabh Kothari, is counting on it. "We are expecting an all-out assault this holiday season," Kothari told Karen Webster in a recent episode of the Global Fraud Index podcast series - and the assault is going to hit in some unexpected places.

Kothari said that the well-known and luxury brands people expect fraudsters to target will continue to see fraudulent activity, as they always have. While it's not good news, neither is it unexpected.

What he finds alarming is the spike in eCommerce fraud among apparel retailers, where account takeover fraud is growing rapidly at the same time as stolen financials fraud. Kothari said that retailers are experiencing greater fraud losses this year than last year, and that will only be highlighted during the holiday season.

During a typical holiday season, Webster noted, fraud numbers climb, but legitimate transaction numbers climb faster - so, the percentage of transactions that are fraudulent actually declines. But that's not what retailers saw this time last year. Unfortunately, Kothari thinks this year will be even worse. pymnts.com

Target's online Black Friday up 44% - Beating Everybody
The Tuesday before Thanksgiving through Cyber Monday - bringing in 14% more shoppers online than last year, which contributed to 18% growth in overall revenue, according to data from Slice Intelligence and its panel of 5 million online shoppers. Major U.S. retailers posted significant growth online, with Best Buy, Amazon, Apple and Walmart growing between 19% and 25%, according to Slice's report. A Black Friday shopper's average spend was $157.87, 13% percent higher than the $140.04 the average Cyber Monday shopper spent. retaildive.com

Invasion Of The Ad Fraud Super Bots
There are armies of bots viewing and clicking on ads, creating huge volumes of fake traffic that result in large sums of advertising dollars for fraudsters and less-than-diligent publishers. Originally targeting display ads on computers, they have evolved to become more sophisticated with the ability to infect mobile devices and apps.

Advertisers will lose an estimated $19 billion as a result fraud in 2018, according to Juniper Research (via Which-50.com). That's the equivalent to $51 million per day, and it's estimated that this figure will continue to rise, reaching $44 billion by 2022. forbes.com

PayPal Launches Virtual NYC Shopping Platform

Text Book Case
Perfect Example of How ORC Has Become Top Theft Risk
Data Breaches - Ukrainian Hackers - Hong Kong Trading Co. - Two Mexican Gangs
Hit Tucson Retailers With 6,000 Fake Cards For $550,000 in Fraudulent Purchases
With the help of Ukrainian computer hackers and a Hong Kong trading company, two Mexican men used stolen credit card accounts to buy about $150,000 worth of luxury items from stores in Tucson, Oro Valley and Marana which they intended to re-sell in Mexico.

With the counterfeit credit cards, the men purchased hundreds of high-end items such as Swarovski and Cartier bracelets, new iPhones, iPads, PlayStation and Xbox gaming consoles, Beats by Dre headphones, a FNH pistol, ammunition, and designer belts, purses, sunglasses and clothes.

The scheme started to unravel when government agents discovered a shipment of 2,000 blank cards from Lam Shen International Trade Co. in Hong Kong on its way to Gonzalez.

Four days after the cards arrived in Tucson, HSI agents went to Gonzalez's home and found items such as Cartier and Tiffany & Co. jewelry and $13,057 in cash in three envelopes marked as payment for different people (their purchasing mules).

About five weeks later after their initial arrest and release on bail agents followed Gonzalez and Garcia during one of their shopping sprees. After charging more than $1,000 at a Best Buy in Oro Valley, the men headed to the outlet stores in Marana. There, Marana police questioned Garcia, and he said Gonzalez had given him the fake credit cards and ID cards and instructed him where to shop and what to buy.

In a separate case from earlier this year, four men from Mexico were indicted and sentenced for using credit card information from Ukraine to go on shopping sprees in Tucson.

Anwar Barragan Flores, the ringleader of that conspiracy group, organized the shopping trips to resell the goods for a profit in Mexico. The four men's involvement in the scheme lasted about two years, and racked up over $400,000 in fraudulent purchases using nearly 6,000 counterfeit cards. tucson.com

Russian cyber criminal given additional jail time for role in $50M fraud ring
A Russian cyber-criminal was sentenced today to 14 years in prison for his role in a $50 million cyberfraud ring and for defrauding banks of $9 million through a hacking scheme.

Roman Valeryevich Seleznev, 33 and son of a member of Russian Parliament, admitted that he became associated with the Carder.su organization, an identity theft and credit card fraud ring, in January 2009.

Seleznev admitted that pursuant to the scheme, in November 2008, hackers infiltrated the company's computer systems and accessed 45.5 million debit card numbers, certain of which they used to fraudulently withdraw over $9.4 million from 2,100 ATMs in 280 cities around the world in less than 12 hours with mules located in 280 cities.

Federal officials also say that Seleznev netted more than $169 million in profits from hacking into point-of-sale computers, stealing credit card numbers and then selling them on the dark web. He was sentenced to 27 years in prison in April for those crimes.

Seleznev was arrested in the Maldives in 2014 and brought to the U.S. to face charges. justice.gov thehill.com

Gates, NY: 5 Arrested after $80,000 Home Depot merchandise scheme
A Gates man is charged with grand larceny and conspiracy after police say he teamed up with home depot employees to steal what could be as much as $80,000 dollars worth of store merchandise. Four employees have also been arrested for their alleged involvement.

Police say Samuel Viele and the Home Depot employees, Mark Belknap, Orlando Inostroza, James Maher and Michael Bell, meticulously orchestrated the scheme between September and November of this year. Gates Police Officer Lance Duffy says each crime is caught on store surveillance video. "Viele would go there and buy high-priced items and they would meet him at the store and bag them up," Duffy said. "He'd use them at job sites or he'd return the property for store credit." Gates Police said Viele would compensate the store employees for helping him steal the nearly $9,000 they know of. Police say Viele is a predicate felon with three other felony convictions. 13wham.com

Update: San Diego, CA: Santee Sheriff's Office investigating $4,000 Walmart theft
On Oct. 25, three unknown men entered the Walmart, in Santee, and selected 8 Visa gift cards. The men requested that each gift card be activated with $500. One of the men distracted the cashier by asking for cigarettes. When the cashier left her register to get the cigarettes another suspect reached around the register and pushed a key that loaded each of the cards with the $500.00. The third man grabbed the Walmart bag containing the gift cards and other merchandise. All three men exited the store without paying for any of the items. The total loss was estimated at about $4,065. kusi.com

Mesa County, CO: Satan's Disciples Gang chief indicted on Organized Crime charges

Credit Card Fraud Ring Operating up & down East Coast, U.S. now in Melbourne, Brevard & Rive County, Fla., Since Oct.

Fort Myers, FL: Suspect sought in over $300 Baby Formula theft from Publix

Montclair, CA: $8,000 in Hair Extensions grabbed in Armed Robbery

Natick, MA: Women dodge cars after $250 Victoria's Secret theft

Newark, DE: Undercover Police from Special Operations Unit working with local Retailers

Moline, IL: Local police see increase in shoplifters during holiday season

UK: Sydney, AU: 'Operation Christmas Rush' - Eight juveniles among 21 people caught shoplifting in pre-Christmas blitz

UK: Lincolnshire Police begin 'Operation Grinch' at Boston Towne Centre

Shootings & Deaths

Greenburgh, NY: Best Buy Shoplifter dies after swallowing substance during struggle with Loss Prevention
Police in Westchester County say a 21-year-old man suspected of shoplifting died after swallowing an unknown substance during a struggle with store security and police. Jonathan Maldonado was pronounced dead Wednesday night. Police said the incident began after Maldonado was accused of stealing from a BestBuy in Greenburg and was chased and tackled by employees and security. During the struggle, police say he swallowed "several packets of an unknown substance." Police say Maldonado continued to struggle with officers who had arrived on the scene and a Taser was used to control him. Police say Maldonado went into cardiac arrest and was taken to a hospital where he died. County and state law enforcement authorities are investigating. cbslocal.com sfchronicle.com theexaminernews.com

'Penny Pincher Bandit' killed following Police chase, Pulls gun on C-Store employee stealing $800 and the pennies from the Take a Penny tray
A robbery suspect was shot and killed by Los Angeles police after leading officers on a short pursuit. The Los Angeles Police Department says undercover detectives were investigating a series of robberies Thursday afternoon when they spotted a suspect possibly connected to the crimes. Police say the suspect led officers on a short pursuit, which ended in North Hollywood. They say at least one officer fired at the suspect, striking him. cbslocal.com

Hendersonville, NC: Police Officer involved shooting at Walmart
The shooting happened at around 11 p.m. Thursday night in the parking lot at the Walmart Supercenter on Highland Square Drive in Hendersonville. The shooting happened at around 11 p.m. Thursday night in the parking lot at the Walmart Supercenter on Highland Square Drive in Hendersonville. Hendersonville Police Chief Herbert Blake said an officer shot one suspect, who was transported to the hospital. The suspect's condition was unknown. Chief Blake said the officer was not injured. Other officers were on scene at the time of the incident, but it is to be determined if they will also be put on leave. Our reporter on the scene last night said several vehicles in the parking lot also appeared to be damaged. wspa.com

Shoreline, WA: One man wounded in Strip Mall parking lot shooting

Robberies & Thefts

Sherman Oaks, CA: Police respond to report of Smash & Grab Armed Robbery at Macy's -Westfield Fashion Mall
Police responded to a report of a smash-and-grab robbery Thursday morning. The incident was reported shortly after 10:25 a.m. at Westfield Fashion Square, according to LAPD. Initial reports that shots were fired were unfounded, the LAPD said. Several police officers and firefighters were seen at the location as an investigation got underway. abc7.com


Citrus Heights, CA: Elderly Woman in Critical Condition After Three Men Rob Rite Aid
An 86-year-old woman is in critical condition after she was knocked down while she was walking into a Citrus Heights Rite Aid as three men were escaping after robbing the store's pharmacy. The men walked into the store on Auburn Boulevard, jumped the pharmacy counter and demanded pharmacists give them various prescription drugs. After being handed an undisclosed number of medications, the three men ran away as an elderly woman was entering the store. One of the men knocked her over, causing her to fall back and hit the ground. She lost consciousness and when first responders arrived, the woman had no pulse. First responders revived the woman and she is now at a local hospital in critical condition. fox40.com



Chesterfield, MO: Police searching for 2 suspects involved in Robbery at Macy's
Police say the suspects took a large amount of merchandise from Macy's and when Macy's Loss Prevention officers approached the suspects, one of the men pulled out a gun. The suspect dropped the gun in the process and both suspect ran off. One hour later, authorities say the suspects also stole electronics from a Walmart in Chesterfield. kmov.com


Nassau County, NY: Jeweler robbed of $380,000 in merchandise in front of his home

Wilkes-Barre Township, PA: Kay Jewelers employee charged with theft; also had active warrant

Aurora, CO: Smash-and-grab burglars hit five businesses

Lynnwood, WA: Alderwood Mall Rolex Grab & Run, 2nd dramatic theft this week

Sentencings & Arrests

Sumter, SC: Two teenagers have been arrested in the shooting death of a Manning Avenue business owner, Sumter Police Department officials said
A department spokeswoman said Sincere Dinkins, 17, and Larenzo Hagood, 19, both of Sumter, were taken into custody Wednesday night after they were spotted in the South Sumter community. Both men are charged with murder, attempted armed robbery, possession of a weapon during a violent crime, conspiracy and two counts of kidnapping, Sumter P.D. said. Officers said the owner of Save-Mart, Vijaykumar Patel, 57, was shot and killed just before 7 p.m. Friday, when two masked men, armed with handguns, entered the grocery store. Two customers in the shop at the time were unharmed. Patel was pronounced dead at the scene. Both suspects have prior juvenile records that involved violent crimes. abccolumbia.com

Long Beach, CA: Police chase down 7th suspect in double killing at Liquor store
Police spotted an armed double-murder suspect in North Long Beach and arrested him on Wednesday night. Detectives had been on the hunt for 30-year-old Savanna Sok, who disappeared after a quadruple shooting at a Cambodia Town liquor store on Oct. 10, police said. With Sok in custody, police have arrested 7 people they believe are tied to the killings. presstelegram.com

Bangor, ME: Connecticut Man Pleads Guilty to Robbery Charges

Baltimore County, MD: Police arrest suspect in armed robbery spree
 

Credit Card Fraud

St. Lucie County, FL: Four arrested in Credit Card Fraud case at Pawn Shop
Four people were arrested on trafficking in credit cards and other charges after St. Lucie County Sheriff's investigators went to a local pawn shop this week. The case began Monday when investigators went to Paramount Pawn and Jewelry on U.S. 1. The owner said two men were trying to use three credit cards to buy items. The cards were declined. They left in an Audi, but investigators said they returned Tuesday. Investigators said they were trying to buy jewelry and a remote-controlled boat with a combined value of more than $7,000. They also found a "decoder for credit/debit cards. tcpalm.com

Bomb Threat

Lake Delton, WI: Walmart reopened after second bomb threat in last month

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3 Traits Employers Must Look for to Hire Successful People
When screening new hires or reviewing potential job candidates, don't just look at their resume or their experience. Look at who they are as a person. Here are three top traits employers should look for as they interview potential employees. Learned from failure

The Key to Hiring (and Keeping) the Best Talent
To thrive, an organization must be able to attract, hire and keep their top talent. Employee happiness can make or break a company's success, so it's key that the company culture is one where employees thrive and feel excited. Use referrals

How to Hire the Perfect Team -- Start by Changing How You Interview
If you want to find your dream team for your organization, making sure you start the whole process on the right foot is critical. That means, changing how you interview and knowing exactly what kind of person you're looking for. Don't compromise

The Key to Hiring the Best Candidate is Deciding What's Most Important
Hiring decisions can be very difficult, there's a lot that rides on hiring the right person, so hiring managers want to be sure that they don't fail. By setting one goal that must be achieved, you can make the process of deciding on a new hire easier. Look for #1

Networking has always been a key to career development and finding that next job. However, if you're not careful it can also limit you, eliminate you and even work against you. If your network is comprised of executives doing exactly what you do, then you may have competition and may even find some working against you. You've got to broaden and expand your network outside your immediate group and establish relationships outside your company and your professional circle. Remembering that quantity is no substitute for quality and, as in any mutually beneficial relationship, what you bring to the table for them is as important as what they bring to the table for you.

Just a Thought,
Gus

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