ORC gang of three busted in Safford, Az., hitting Wal-Mart
On Friday, Johnny Ray Morales Casas Jr., 21, Randy Morales, 23, and Christina Barron, 23, were arrested and booked into the Graham County Jail on charges of shoplifting, burglary in the third degree and organized retail theft for taking part in a preplanned effort to steal goods from Walmart. The trio were arrested after a Safford officer, working on behalf of a loss prevention associate with Walmart, stopped Casas as he made his way out of the store pushing a storage bin that had been filled with merchandise totaling $971.96. According to a Safford Police report, Casas said the plan was for Morales and Barron to fill the bin with items they wanted to steal and then leave the bin in a predetermined spot for Casas to retrieve. He added that he participated in selecting items as well and used a pair of gardening scissors found on his person to cut the plastic devices that held some of the merchandise to the shelves meant to be accessed only by employees with keys. Casas also allegedly admitted this was the second time he participated in the shoplifting scheme in as many weeks and that he received payment for half of the retail worth for the items he previously stole. (Source eacourier.com)

Serial shoplifter - ORC gang of 4 - busted again in Erie, PA.
A North East woman with a lengthy record for shoplifting was arraigned Monday on a felony theft charge, nearly a year after she avoided a state prison sentence for prior convictions. State police accused Beebe and three other women, who police have not identified, of stealing a video surveillance security system valued at $798 and a DVR security system with four cameras from the Walmart store in Washington Township early on the morning of Nov. 6. (Source goerie.com)

Hotel room marijuana smell bust turns into multi-state fake credit card case in Tremonton, Utah with 4 arrests  More than 50 forged credit cards were found in the hotel room. Receipts were also found to indicate they'd made charges on the fraudulent cards all over Utah and in two other states, their native California and Nevada, Nance said. We must have called twenty different banks around the country that were victimized," said the chief. "And one in Brazil." The case has since been taken over by the U.S. Secret Service, he said, which has jurisdiction over credit card fraud and better resources for tracking violations nationally. (Source standard.net)

ORC charges for two in Conroe, TX.
Two people were arrested Friday for their role in an alleged organized effort to steal more than $4,000 from Academy in Conroe by manipulating bar codes on merchandise. David Lee Cherry Jr., 21, and Velonika Siale, 19, are charged with organized retail theft. According to information from the Conroe Police Department, Cherry and Siale allegedly changed the bar codes on merchandise, purchased the items and then returned them to other locations for gift cards. Some of the items purchased and returned included firearms, said Conroe Police Sgt. Dorcy Riddle. (Source yourhoustonnews.com)

Cadillac, Michigan ORC male suspect pleads out of ORC charge to lesser charge
Harold James Bates, 37 who had let a number of people live in his home if they stole fishing equipment from local stores for him pled to a lesser charge in court. Blankets, shoes, movies, electronics and other items also were targeted, according to Wexford County Prosecuting Attorney Anthony Badovinac. Bates had been charged with interfering with a witness for allegedly warning the people he worked with to not speak about their arrangement, in which he allegedly allowed others to live in his home in exchange for bringing him stolen merchandise. Bates’ wife, Caila Lynn Bates, 30, also was arraigned in connection with the case and continues to face Circuit Court charges of organized shoplifting and intimidating a witness. (Source cadillacnews.com)

Traffic stop leads to fake ID's, 18 fake Visa's, iPads and Samsung Galaxy Tab 3's in Chester, Md. - hitting BJ's stores  A traffic stop Nov. 30 on Kent Island resulted in the arrest of three New Yorkers on credit card fraud, theft and drug charges. In the trunk, the search found a black bag containing a green Newport cigarette carton with 12 Visa credit cards inside; the name imprinted on the cards did not belong to any of the car’s occupants, police said. Also in the trunk were four new, unopened Apple iPad Airs and nine new Samsung Galaxy Tab 3’s with no sales receipt to accompany them, police said. A search of Wise turned up a list of the BJ wholesales stores located in the Baltimore Metro area with check marks next the names along with two digit numbers relevant to the last two numbers of multiple credit cards, police said. Wise also had two Visa credit cards with someone else’s name on them, police said. During questioning, McBride said she got the credit cards from someone in New York with the intentions of purchasing the electronic devices in exchange for compensation, police said. (Source myeasternshoremd.com)

Shoplifting gang leader jailed for six months after 1900 pounds ($3,000 U.S.) raid on Stirling store in UK  ROBERTA BURKE, 50, who was part of a mob that also included crime queen Annette Daniel, sister of gangster Jamie, had plead guilty to stealing clothes worth 1920 pounds ($3,141.89 U.S.) from the Monsoon store in Stirling in 2011. Staff at Monsoon had become suspicious after noticing “large gaps” had appeared on rails where clothes had been hanging. Three crooks, identified as Daniel, Burke and Shearer, were seen in the shop. (Source dailyrecord.com)


Police hunt Romanian ATM thieves who are behind 90% of UK cashpoint fraud (skimming)  British and Romanian police are working to bring down cashpoint fraud. Around 40 million pounds worth is though to be committed per year in the UK. Around 90 per cent of it is organized by Romanian gangs according to police figures. New figures reveal a sharp rise in the crimes by Romanian gangs and there are fears this will rise further with a new wave of immigrants expected to arrive in the UK from January. Senior Home Office figures are said to be ‘nervous’ about the crime surge. (Source dailymail.co.uk)

Traveling gangs blamed for 50% spike in UK town - Cookstown - It's spiking across the pond as well  “A lot are people coming from other areas to specifically target the town, hitting as many retailers as possible,” says Chief Inspector Jane Humphries. "There has been an increase in shoplifting definitely and our crime prevention officers are working with the local shops in relation to that." (Source midulstermail.co.uk)

Springfield, Tennessee woman steals $200,000 from Walmart and Straigttalk in phone card scheme  A Springfield woman is facing felony theft charges after the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation said she ran a scheme involving Walmart and Straighttalk phone cards that resulted in a loss of more than $200,000. TBI investigators said Petty posed as a Walmart supervisor and called Tracfone to activate stolen Straighttalk phone cards several times between June 2012 and October 2013. She verified times when the activation system was down. Once the cards were activated, she sold them to people throughout Robertson County at a discounted rate or returned them to Walmart to receive a refund. Alexandrea Petty, 21, was arrested by TBI agents at a relative’s house Monday morning. (Source tennessean.com)