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Update: Saks ID Theft Ring, 8 charged now
Prosecutors say an identity theft and fraud ring used shoppers' stolen
information to buy over $400,000 worth of designer shoes, handbags and
accessories from Saks Fifth Avenue's flagship store. Manhattan District Attorney
Cyrus Vance Jr. announced the case Monday. At least eight people are being
charged. Vance says the ringleader obtained Social Security numbers and other
personal information for over 20 Saks credit card holders. Prosecutors say the
information was provided to four salespeople, who'd use it to look up account
numbers and ring up the fraudulent sales of Chanel, Valentino and other designer
items. They say other accomplices would allegedly pick up the items, posing as
the shoppers. Prosecutors say some items were sold on the black market.
Prosecutors credit Saks with initiating the investigation. The D&D Daily first
reported this case on September 11, which you can read
here.
(Source
abcnews.go.com)
 Central
Maine organized theft ring busted; $240,000 in cash seized State and
federal authorities said Friday they've busted an organized theft operation
involving hundreds of stolen items from Walmart stores in central Maine that
were being sold through the online auction site eBay. The investigation started
with the Walmart in Palmyra and mushroomed. Police said they seized stolen items
from that Walmart store as well as stores in Bangor, Brewer and Ellsworth. Homes
and a bank vault were searched Thursday in Bangor, Bucksport and Frankfort that
resulted in the seizure of $240,000 in cash. Among the stolen items being sold
on eBay were Star War Legos, Crest white strips, Nicorette gum, razor blades,
animal flea and tick treatments and a 46-inch TV, police said. Police said
information gathered from the searches in Bucksport and Frankfort later led
investigators to Bangor, where search warrants were executed at a home and a
pawn shop. Police said the organized criminal enterprise was run by a man from
his home in Bucksport and a woman from her home in Frankfort.
(Source
centralmain.com)
Federal trial to start for Beaver County, PA man accused in Organized Retail
Crime Operation Jury selection was set to begin today in U.S. District
Court for the trial of a Beaver County man accused of paying thieves to shoplift
merchandise at area stores, then selling the items at his booth at a popular
Ohio flea market. Terry Sempf, 57, of New Brighton, was indicted in 2012 after
an investigation by New Brighton police and an Allegheny County sheriff's deputy
attached to an FBI task force. Between 2008 and May 2010, Mr. Sempf paid
shoplifters to steal from retailers such as Walmart, then transported the items
to the Rogers Community Auction in Rogers, Ohio, where he and his wife, Sherri,
resold them, according to an FBI affidavit. The investigation began in 2010 when
one of the thieves told police she had been stealing for Mr. Sempf for several
years and agreed to cooperate. Police then set up a sting by buying numerous
items from retailers, which they marked as evidence, and having her deliver them
to Mr. Sempf as if she had stolen them. Authorities then traveled to the flea
market, one of the largest in this part of the country, and bought the items
they recognized being sold at a booth run by Terry and Sherri Sempf. Sherri
Sempf has not been charged in the federal case. (Source
post-gazette.com)
 Victoria's
Secret shoplifter stole $53000 worth of lingerie; 255 fraudulent returns at 37
stores A US woman who stole $53,000 worth of lingerie from Victoria's
Secret shops has handed herself in after police launched a manhunt. Nathilia
Hooks, 39, is alleged to have targeted stores with her massive scam for more
than a year across Miami, Palm Beach and Orlando. The shoplifter reportedly used
screwdrivers to remove anti-theft sensors from clothing and would then return
items for refunds on her debit card. But her shady dealings were spotted when
loss prevention fraud investigators at Victoria's Secret found multiple returns
to her debit card and raised the alarm. Hooks eventually handed herself in after
police issued a warrant for her arrest. She has been charged with retail theft,
grand theft, organized fraud and money laundering, and was remanded in custody
pending her court case. During her initial court hearing, Hooks did not speak
but the prosecutor told the judge she pulled her fraudulent return scam at least
255 times over 18 months at 37 stores. (Source
mirror.co)
Two N.Y. men accused of retail theft after Best Buy incident in Ferguson Twp, PA
Two men were arrested after they allegedly stole electronics from Best Buy in
Ferguson Township. Philip Post, 28, and Vito Cascio, 33, both of Brooklyn, N.Y.,
were both charged with retail theft after police said they stole three Sony
camcorders and a Canon camera. The items are valued at almost $1,800. According
to police, Post stopped at the store's security station and received a flier
from a loss prevention associate as Cascio picked up the electronics. Cascio
then ran out of the store, sounding the security alarm, and Post followed. The
store then alerted police to the theft at 3:30 p.m. (Source
centredaily.com)
Robbers hit 3 AT&T stores in Orlando, FL
Macedon, NY Police Chief: Heroin to blame for soaring Walmart shoplifting
arrests
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